


The More We Learn...

by SophieSwiftieSammy



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Going back in time, Jackson Overland is really Jack Frost, M/M, Magic Books, trapped in someone else's body, very weird first time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 02:10:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16008101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieSwiftieSammy/pseuds/SophieSwiftieSammy
Summary: Jackson Overland is a high school student. He switches schools for his last year. At school he meets a new Psychology professor named Kozmotis Pitchiner. Then, weird things begin to happen, such as awful weather and bizarre illnesses. What caused it? And why is Jackson getting colder by the day?





	The More We Learn...

**Author's Note:**

> So okay, that just came into my mind somehow. I thought it would be a good idea somehow :) Actually, Jack Frost and Pitch Black are kind of from the past according to us, so their clothing might be a tad different. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea in the world to switch schools just for the last year.

Problem was, there wasn’t really any choice in the matter for Jack.

Jackson Overland, a pretty much standard example of a senior in a typical American high school, was forced to switch schools when his mother took up a different job. Actually, it was him who suggested that damned job for his mom because it offered much better conditions than her last one. His father didn’t live with them, so the only constant source of money was his mother’s work place. Jack worked while he could, but it was his last year and he couldn’t afford it, having to prepare for his exams and all. He liked his previous school, the teachers were nice, he got on well with his classmates and, most importantly, his little sister felt the same. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her they were moving until practically the deadline. Of course, Pippa threw a tantrum, but then she smiled and said that the new school was going to be even better. She was always the optimist, Jack’s little star.

The house his mother had bought wasn’t exactly big, but it was comfortable and looked nice, plus it was only ten minutes away from the new school. Now he could sleep for a little longer, but Jack had the feeling Pippa was going to wake him up anyway as her school building was a little further away, and she would always make him braid her hair. Well, not that he was complaining, he loved Pippa and wanted to always be there for her.

Tomorrow was the first day at the new school for Jack and Pippa and also his mother’s first work day at her new job. She was a teacher at a kindergarten: she loved kids, but couldn’t afford more than two, so she connected her life with it. Jack was worried, but he’d never show it to Pippa, obviously. He didn’t want her to worry for him, she had enough things to worry about herself.

Jack shifted in his bed uncomfortably. It was two am, and he still was awake. It meant that tomorrow he would be sleepwalking through the day if he didn’t do anything like, _right_ _now_. But he didn’t know what he could do, so he just accepted his fate and was about to turn again when he heard a quiet knock on the door. It was Pippa; she stuck her face into his room and looked right at Jack with her puppy eyes. He sighed and motioned for her to come in.

\- I can’t sleep, Jack-Jack, - she complained, standing beside his bed with a sad face.

\- It’s okay, darling, - Jack smiled at her. – Tomorrow’s the big day. Actually, I can’t sleep either. Perhaps we could find a way on the roof here? – Jack suggested. It was something they did in their old house at night when Pippa couldn’t sleep – they tip-toed their way on the roof and sat on it, watching the night sky. But Pippa just shook her head.

\- It’s fine, Jack-Jack. Can I sleep here?

\- Of course, come here, - he gestured for Pippa to climb in with him, and so she did, tucking herself into his side. Jack hugged her and soon realized that Pippa had drifted off. He sighed and relaxed, falling asleep himself.

**

Kozmotis Pitchiner was pacing back and forth. He never liked switching jobs, especially if it meant moving somewhere. Unfortunately, he got kicked out of his school because, apparently, they were shutting it down, so he had to look for something else. There weren’t that many vacancies for a psychology high school teacher, but he managed to find two. One turned him down almost immediately. The other accepted.

The awful thing was the school’s location. He had to cross the _state_ all the way up north to get to it, and if he was uncomfortable with moving, then what about little Seraphina? She was only going to the second grade, it must’ve been very hard for her to move and would be even harder to fit in. After all, no one knew just how accepting her new classmates were going to be. Bullying wasn’t that uncommon.

Sera was a loveable little bugger, but she was a very unusual girl which, unfortunately, could turn on her. Back in kindergarten she was always teased about her hair: she never allowed him to cut it, so eventually it grew almost down to the floor. There was no reason it couldn’t happen again. The other major thing was that she lived with her father, not with her mother who turned out to be very, _very_ irresponsible when it came to kids. She just tossed little Sera onto Kozmotis and left him to deal with their break-up _and_ a little girl. Kozmotis was worried she would grow up looking a lot like her mother but it somehow didn’t happen. The more she grew, the less she looked like Onyx and the more like him. But maybe it was only him who saw that.

Kozmotis didn’t have much to leave in his home town when he moved with Sera to the south of Minnesota. There, he led a close life, went into teaching and cared as much as he could for their- no, _his_ daughter. It had been like this for almost six years.

And then the school closed down and the whole moving thing happened. They managed to unpack the boxes in just under two days, and the rest of the week they were setting in and Kozmotis was running back and forth with the documents. But today it had all been settled, because tomorrow was the day school started.

\- Daddy? – Kozmotis’s thoughts were interrupted when he saw Sera coming closer to him and hugging his waist.

\- Yes, dear?

\- Can I please wear my new dress to school tomorrow? It just looks so nice! – Kozmotis wanted to say no, but Sera’s big eyes always did the trick. After all, what harm could a dress do?

\- Of course, Sera. Now be a good girl and go to sleep, tomorrow is an important day, - he smiled. Sera nodded and took off, probably to change. It was late enough, so Kozmotis felt tired too. He laid down, but he was restless; he tossed and turned all night, slipping in and out of sleep. He was worried too.

**

Jack awoke with a start. He had completely forgotten to set the alarm! They were hideously late. Especially Pippa, who had to take the bloody bus which was probably already headed towards them. Somehow he managed to shower in under two minutes, wake Pippa, send her to the shower, in the meantime he got dressed and stuffed a bake roll in his mouth while packing Pippa’s lunch. Their mother was long gone, her work place was pretty far away. He helped Pippa with her school bag and, grabbing his own, took off to the bus stop, practically dragging his sister after him. Thankfully, the bus was just coming, and Pippa got on, waving goodbye through the window. Jack smiled and ran towards his own school, thank god it was closer.

He’d just passed the gates when he heard the bell. Thinking something like _fuck, I’m late_ he maneuvered through the school corridors, trying to figure out where his class was and what they even had that day. He looked around, whipping his head left and right when he noticed a tall, dark-haired handsome man who was walking at a fast pace towards him. He just _had_ to be a teacher.

\- Um, excuse me, - he hurried to ask the man. – I’m heading to my, err… - he checked his schedule. – Psychology class. Could you show me where it is? – Realizing he’d forgotten his manners, he quickly added, - Sir.

\- Actually, I have the same problem, - the man said, smiling at him. – I am new here, and I take it, you are as well. I am your Psychology teacher, by the way. My name is Kozmotis Pitchiner, - he introduced himself, extending his hand.

\- Jack… son Overland, - Jack said shakily, not sure about the hand. Deciding he had nothing to lose, he took it and felt like he’d just gone cold. His skin felt like ice, while Mr. Pitchiner’s skin was too hot for him. Mr. Pitchiner seemed to notice it too, as he winced as if in pain and broke the handshake.

\- Jackson, then. Well, Jackson, I believe we need to head to class, as I am sure the other students are in the process of destroying it. I feel like it should be around there, - he motioned towards the hallway Jack had just passed. They headed there, neither of them noticing that the place where they were standing had suddenly become very dark.

And yes, Jack in his hurry had passed the door he needed. He walked in, Mr. Pitchiner following him closely behind. Jack looked around confusedly, noticing there was only one free place next to a dark-haired boy approximately his height. He quickly joined him, trying to shake the feeling of the freezing cold on his skin.

\- Hey, - the other boy whispered. – You’re new right?

\- Yeah, - Jack whispered back. Mr. Pitchiner seemed nice, but who knew if he tolerated talking? – I’m Jack.

\- Nice to meet you Jack, - the other smiled. – I’m Jamie. Been here since my freshman year. I like it, the teachers are nice and we live nearby. And you?

\- We just arrived in town, - Jack confessed. – I’m a topographic idiot, so can’t really tell you where I live, but it’s close.

Jamie nodded.

\- I know what you mean, - he said with a small smile. – I can show you around the school today if you want. I guess you were late because you couldn’t find the right class?

\- Yep, - Jack flashed a grin. – Met the new teacher on the way here. Seems nice enough.

\- Oh so you don’t know each other? – Jamie looked surprised. – I thought you were like close friends or something. No?

\- Well, not exactly, - Jack said, shocked. – Why’d you think that?

\- For starters, he was walking too close to you for someone he just met. And another big thingy – the class has already started, and he hasn’t said a thing about us talking, so… - Jamie shrugged. – Sorry if I offended you.

Jack flushed beet red.

\- Shit, - he whispered even more quietly. – It’s okay, Jamie, I was just surprised.

When Jack looked from under his brown strands almost covering his eyes, he noticed Mr. Pitchiner was prepared to start. He tried to look like he was actually interested in the class, but he was probably doing a poor job. He was more into exact sciences anyway, like Math or Physics. He liked drawing, that was true, but he didn’t really enjoy all these humanitarian subjects. More like, really didn’t.

But then the lecture started, and Jack found he was actually interested in what was being said. He really enjoyed finding out lots of new things about humans and their development. He thought that Mr. Pitchiner was exceptionally good at teaching if he could make everyone love his subject even if they used to hate it. However, when the break came, Jack was very surprised.

\- Ugh, - Jamie bragged while they gathered their things and headed towards the exit. – Never liked Psychology and never will. He talks boring about boring things. Eh.

\- Really? – Jack looked at him with wide eyes. – I never liked Psychology either, but I felt like he could make anything interesting. I enjoyed the thing! Really, Jamie, I mean it!

\- That’s weird, - Jamie said, as if to himself. – Jack, are you sure you don’t know him?

\- I told you, I met him today, we kind of bumped into each other in a hallway, - Jack rolled his eyes.

\- If you say so.

They had been walking in silence for a minute when a short Indian girl dressed in a _really_ colorful dress threw herself at Jamie, and Jack jumped away, squeaking.

\- That your girlfriend? – he asked sheepishly, still scared from the sudden hug attack.

\- No, - Jamie laughed, pulling away. – I don’t have a girlfriend. That’s one of my friends, she’s a sophomore. Name’s Tiana. Tiana, this is Jack, he’s new in my class.

\- Nice to meet you, Jack, - she flashed a white-toothed grin at him. – I missed you so much, Jamie! – and she hugged him again.

\- Tiana’s been away all summer. We usually meet all together, but she hasn’t seen us a long time, plus she’s one hell of a hugger, - Jamie grinned.

\- Oh-kay, - Jack drew. – So who else will crush you in a hug from your group of friends and scare me to death?

\- Well, - Jamie looked up, breaking his hug with Tiana. – Nick could, but I saw him just the other day, so not likely. There’s also Edgar and Stefan, but I don’t think they even do hugs. They’re more of a clapping-on-the-shoulder type. They’re all juniors, went to school together. Oh, there they are! – Jamie pointed to three weird-looking guys heading towards them.

One of them, the tallest, looked the happiest. He had enormous blue eyes and a wide grin covering like half of his face. His cheeks were bright red, as if he’d just come home from a winter walk. His hair was almost completely white, although Jack guessed that originally it was black or, at least, dark. He was wearing a bright red shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, opening two tattoo-covered arms. It seemed like the tattoos were made of words rather than drawings.

The second one had gray hair, very similar to the first, but… grayer, more like senior citizens. It was all messed up, two strands poking up like rabbit ears. His eyes were blue as well, although not so large. He wasn’t smiling, he was smirking instead, presumably at Jamie. He had a gray T-Shirt on, the color of it matching his hair. Out of a pocket of his blue jeans there was a green boomerang sticking out. One of the boy’s arms was casually draped over the end of it, as if readying to throw it at any danger that comes their way. His arms, oh his arms… They were all covered in tattoos too, although it was definitely some spirals and stars this time.

The third one interested Jack the most. He looked like he didn’t really belong in there with the other two. He had blond, sand-colored hair and a similar-colored hoodie paired with blue jeans. His eyes were brown, looking like they were out of place on his face as they were sort of too small. He was smiling widely, although he wasn’t showing his teeth like the others.

The three approached them and immediately started greeting each other, clapping on shoulders and giving hugs. Jack mentally facepalmed. These five seemed to have been friends long enough to make Jack feel uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure he could fit in.

Just when Jack began to plan his escape, the red-cheeked guy came up to him and casually threw an arm around his shoulders. Jack, who wasn’t exactly used to being touched by anyone except his sister, let alone by someone he’d just met, instantly tried to jerk away, but the guy didn’t let him. He just tightened his grip.

\- New friend of Jamie, eh? – he asked, and Jack felt shocked how his weird accent affected his speech. It looked like English wasn’t his native language at all.

\- Yeah, name’s Jack, - he carefully replied. – Jackson Overland.

\- Good meeting ya, Jackson Overland, - the guy smiled. He was a year younger than Jack, but he was so tall that he could be easily mistaken for an adult. – I am Nick, but within our group I am being called North. You can call me North, - he patted Jack on the head, and the boy attempted to shake away the hand.

\- North, give the guy a chance to breathe, - the gray-haired boy stepped in, and Jack felt thankful. – He just got ‘ere.

North (thank god) took the advice and let Jack go. He instantly jumped away towards the gray-haired boy.

\- Thanks, - he smiled. – The guy’s got a firm grip.

\- Never mind, - the other boy waved a hand at him. – So you’re Jack. And I’m… - he paused. – Aster.

\- Aster? – Jack was confused. – But Jamie said…

\- Mate, that ain’t my real name, but I like it better than the other one, okay? – Oh-kay, Jack thought, another guy with a weird accent. This one seemed Australian, especially the word “mate”. Bloody hell.

\- Okay, Aster. And who’s the blond guy over there?

\- Oh, that one… That’s Stefan, mate. Doesn’t talk much, but a nice fella when you get ta know him, - Aster waved at Stefan. – We call ‘im Sandy. Guess you can understand why.

\- Yeah… - Jack said absently. He wasn’t sure why he felt like he didn’t belong here, but he did. It was impossible he could fit in here. Jamie? Perhaps. But not with these guys. It was like they’d created their own band or something, and Jack was intruding in their private life. – Listen, I… I gotta go. You know, I’m new here, and I have to find my next class an’ all…

\- I can take you there! – Jamie interrupted. – After all, I’m heading there too. I guess we have to go now, - he paused, looking at his phone. – The class’s starting in one minute, so we gotta hurry. See y’all at lunch break! – he waved to the other four, dragging Jack away after him.

\- Thanks Jamie, - Jack smiled. – To tell the truth, I just wanted to get away from them. Not that I don’t like them, - he rushed to correct himself. – It’s just… I don’t feel like I belong.

\- That’s alright, dude, - Jamie smiled back, surprising Jack. – We’ve been friends for practically as long as Tiana has been going to school. It might be hard for you, but you’ll eventually get used to them. They’re all nice and very good friends, it’s just the first impression, - he laughed. – I bet Tooth scared the living hell out of you.

\- Tooth?

\- Yep. We give each other names, you know? They’re sort of based on what we like or something. Tiana’s Tooth because she wants to be a dentist. Nick is North because he looks like a young version of Santa, - Jamie chuckled. – You know, his hair was the same as yours once, but he dyed it white as soon as his parents allowed it, so his nickname would fit even better. Then… Then there’s Edgar who absolutely hates his name, so we call him Aster instead. Or Bunny, for that matter, as in the Easter Bunny.

Jack laughed.

\- You put a lot of thought in it, - he said, grinning. – Well, I guess it’s obvious why Stefan’s Sandy. And you? – he asked curiously. – What do they call you?

\- Me? Nothing, - Jamie confessed. – It’s not like… Well, yeah, it is like that. They couldn’t make one, so I’m just Jamie.

\- Okay, Just Jamie, time to head to class or we’ll be late. What have we got? Philosophy? God please no…

The boys laughed as they walked to their second class. It passed as a blur, and so did the next one. Jack was too busy thinking about his own things, or rather one particular teacher who’d managed to get him to like his subject in less than ten minutes.

**

Kozmotis couldn’t wait until it was lunch. He was hungry. Very hungry. He hadn’t eaten in the morning, too busy getting Sera ready for school. The kids were doing everything but paying attention, and he just wanted to get rid of them. Or, at least, just take a break. He could simply give them an essay topic, but he figured it wouldn’t be very nice on the first day.

So when the bell rang, announcing the beginning of the lunch break, Kozmotis sighed, letting the kids go, and banged his head on his desk. He’d never felt this way in school. It was… weird. As if something deep inside of him wanted to take control and tell the students what they were going to endure if they didn’t fucking listen. It had never happened before. Kozmotis was sure that the crazies felt the exact same way. But he wasn’t crazy… right? Kozmotis decided to take his mind off of it, and what better way to do this than to go eat? He was still hungry.

When he entered the cafe, he immediately noticed a face he knew. Jack. He was sitting at a table with a handful of guys, presumably newly made friends. He recognized the girl, she’d been in his class today. There was another boy, the brown-haired, he’d shared a desk with Jack. He wasn’t sure who the other three were, but somehow he felt Jack was at least a little uncomfortable among them. He hadn’t spent all those years in university for nothing; he noticed the way Jack picked at his food, not really eating, but rather trying to seem smaller and occupied so that the others left him alone. He noticed how Jack darted his eyes around the canteen, perhaps finding a place where he could go with a reasonable excuse. It was actually fun to watch the boy being so uncomfortable, but Jack undeniably needed help, or he would just die – at least, that was the impression he made. So Kozmotis made up his mind and headed for their table.

\- Good afternoon, - he greeted the group, and he didn’t miss Jack’s eyes widen in a mixture of shock and relief.

\- Good afternoon, - he uttered, trying to hide his smile and blush, but it was no use. – Mr. Pitchiner.

\- Do you mind if I steal Jackson for a short while? Perhaps he could help me with choosing the food, as I have no idea what to eat.

\- Okay, yeah, sure, - Jack said, almost out of breath, getting up and following him towards the bar with the food.

They walked in silence for a while, but when they were far enough for Jack’s friends to hear them, Jack finally spoke up.

\- Thank you, - he smiled. – I’m really bad at making friends. Plus, they make me uncomfortable.

\- That is precisely why I asked you to accompany me. I practically saved you, and now you owe me, - Kozmotis smirked. He didn’t know why he’d done it, but he was sure he’d done it for Jack.

\- You can read me, - Jack looked up at him, surprised.

\- I teach psychology for a reason, Jackson, - he smirked again, resting a hand on Jack’s shoulder and immediately retracting it. The boy’s skin felt _extremely_ cold, it wasn’t natural for a human body. He’d felt it before during the handshake, but now it was more intense, as if Jack grew colder day by day. Jack looked at the place he’d just touched with wide eyes, he seemed to realize his abnormal temperature as well. But the cold of the skin was only one problem. What Kozmotis saw on Jack’s shoulder made him stop dead in his tracks. There was a black spot spreading right there, in front of his eyes, and he knew Jack saw it too.

\- What the hell? – he uttered to himself.

\- Yeah… - Jack looked like he was going to faint. – I take it you don’t know what happened either? Uh… - he seemed to gather himself up. – Sir.

\- There is no reason to call me Sir, Jackson, - Kozmotis wanted to place his hand on Jack’s shoulder again but remembered what had happened last time and refrained from doing it. – It’s just Mr. Pitchiner. I am hardly a sir.

\- Okay… Mr. Pitchiner. Shouldn’t you be getting lunch?

Oh right. Lunch. He had come here for food.

\- Of course. Well, Jackson, what would you suggest?

They ended up sharing a small table in the corner of the cafe. Jack turned out to be a wonderful conversationalist, he knew a lot despite pretending to be bored in his class (and, as far as Kozmotis could guess, in others as well). They talked about many things, but mostly psychology. Jack seemed very enveloped in the subject and listened eagerly to whatever Kozmotis told him.

\- And this is how they discovered classical conditioning, - Kozmotis had just finished talking about Pavlov and his dogs, when Jack showered him with questions.

\- So you learn nothing new, right? You just form a response to a… what was it… - Jack mumbled.

\- Stimulus, - Kozmotis helped him.

\- Yeah, right, stimulus. That’s really err… fascinating, - Jack smiled widely, and he couldn’t help but smile in response.

\- Oh, but this is not. There is also operant conditioning, where you do learn new things, and… - their talk was interrupted by the bell. Oh, right. They were still in school, after all.

\- Um, I need to go to class. See you later, Mr. Pitchiner?

\- Of course, - he nodded. – It was a pleasure to have a conversation with you.

**

For Jack, the conversation with Mr. Pitchiner meant a lot. He was sure that the teacher had noticed his new abnormalities, and the fact that he didn’t care meant the world to Jack. But why was he showing these signs, and… what was bloody happening? Jack didn’t feel cold or sick, but he just knew his skin was colder than normal. And that black spot… It didn’t feel as familiar and his own like the cold on his skin, so perhaps it was Mr. Pitchiner who’d left it. The spot had disappeared sometime during lunch, but what the hell?! Jack wasn’t some kind of a, err… wizard, and neither was Mr. Pitchiner, but who knew? Either way, Jack wasn’t the one to go solve his problems as they came, he only paid attention to them when they just couldn’t be ignored anymore. So he just brushed it off and decided to head for the bus stop where Pippa had to be waiting for him instead.

He rushed towards the bus stop when he saw the bus approaching, making it his goal to outrun it and be there to hug Pippa once she came out. He made it, but he was completely out of breath and his hair was a worse mess than usual. In just two seconds after he’d reached the bus stop, the bus slowed down and opened the doors. Two kids jumped off happily and headed somewhere, and after that the bus… closed the doors and drove away. Jack stood dumbstruck. Where the heck was Pippa?

Jack had no idea what to do. How could he find his sister? What if something bad had happened? What if she got kidnapped or something? Jack suddenly felt a tug on his chest which he knew all too well. Panic.

He’d had a few panic attacks in childhood, but they were treated and eventually stopped… or did they? It was that ugly heavy feeling in your chest which made you lose focus on reality. Jack was shaking, he knew it. He couldn’t stop thinking about Pippa dead, or suffering, or being tortured. But by now the doctors had taught him how to handle this. He slowly inhaled and held his breath, thinking about the pleasant moments. Pippa curling into him and relaxing, meeting Jamie, having lunch while listening to Mr. Pitchiner… Jack’s breath hitched, and he slowly let the air out, looking at the sky and forcing a smile on his face. Bit by bit, the panic stepped away, giving room for rational thoughts. Jack could think again, so he chose the decision that made the most sense – go to Pippa’s school and ask a few questions. Maybe they knew where she could’ve gone.

It took Jack half an hour to find the goddamn school. He had asked at least five people, and he still had to be lead there, because he just couldn’t understand directions. But when he finally got there, it was a success. He could find Pippa.

He walked into the school and found the schedule, carefully looking for Pippa’s class. When he found out which teacher they had, he rushed to find the woman. Luckily, he didn’t have to search for long.

\- Young man, why have you come here? The school day is over, - a middle-aged woman questioned. – Wait… - she looked into his face through her glasses. – Aren’t you the brother of one of the new girls, uh, Penelope, was it?

\- Yes, uh, Ma’am, you see, she didn’t come home today, I am so worried, - Jack confessed. – Do you have any idea where she could have gone?

\- Sorry, I don’t think so… Wait, - she repeated, scratching at her nose. – There was another new girl, she had a strange name, what was it… Ah, Seraphina, - she smiled at Jack. – They talked a lot today, I believe they made good friends. Perhaps they’re together somewhere, maybe at Seraphina’s house.

\- Gosh! – Jack grabbed his head. – Pippa! Uh, thank you, Ma’am, - he quickly added. – Do you know where this Seraphina lives?

\- In fact, yes, I do, - she turned around and motioned for Jack to follow. – I have her papers somewhere close, maybe we could see.

**

Clutching a piece of paper with the address, Jack ran as fast as he could. He knew where this was; a few blocks away from his house. This Seraphina must have a really rich family, as they live in a _very_ luxurious block. Jack fell a few times on his way there, but when he finally reached his destination point, he was proud of himself and, to tell the truth, overly worried. What if Pippa wasn’t there? He was too scared to think about that, so he just entered the fence an came up to the door. He couldn’t find a doorbell, so he raised his hand and…

He found he couldn’t knock. He was too terrified to do it. Jack just stood there, his fist raised and frozen in the air. But how could he know where Pippa was if he didn’t knock? So he gathered his remains of courage and knocked several times. He let slide the fact that he saw a few blue streaks on the door which looked suspiciously like frost after he’d touched that damned wood.

\- Who’s there? – came a voice that seemed so familiar to Jack, but he couldn’t put a finger on where he could’ve heard it.

\- Uh, good day, Sir, - he began uncertainly. He had no way of knowing if the man on the other side of the door was happy he’d intruded. – I, err… - his voice trembled and then Jack just stopped mumbling, because the door swung open and he saw Mr. Pitchiner standing inside, coffee in hand, looking shocked.

\- Jackson?!

\- Mr. Pitchiner?! – Jack was just as shocked. So his teacher was also the father of his sister’s new friend. Awesome. Jack didn’t know why, but he felt sad about the fact that Mr. Pitchiner had a daughter. - Umm…

\- I cannot leave you standing on the porch, now can I? – he smiled. – Come in, Jackson. It’s okay.

Jack fumbled with the hem of his shirt for a second, then uncertainly took a step in.

**

To say Kozmotis had been surprised to see Jack standing behind his door would be the understatement of the year. He didn’t know how Jack had found his house and, which was much more important, why. Judging by the way Jack behaved in his house, he didn’t know about Kozmotis living here. So he’d come for something else. But what could it be?

Kozmotis led Jack to the kitchen. The boy looked like he’d been running, he could use some water. Kozmotis poured him a glass, sat him on the sofa and told him to make himself comfortable. Jack fidgeted for a bit, then relaxed and drank the water eagerly.

\- So, Jackson, - Kozmotis began. – What brings you here?

\- Uhm… - Jack avoided looking him in the eye. He was ashamed.

\- Jackson? – Kozmotis couldn’t help himself. He reached out with his hand, wanting to comfort Jack, but he never had the chance to. Sera rushed in the kitchen and jumped into his lap, hugging his neck in a way she did when she wanted to ask something.

\- Daddy, - she pleaded, looking him in the eye. – It’s three o’clock, but I don’t want Pip to leave. Can she please-please-please stay a little longer?

\- But her family will be looking for her, darling, - Kozmotis said firmly. – Come on, let’s get her home. Plus, you will see her tomorrow in school.

\- Pip? – he suddenly heard Jack ask.

\- Yes, she’s my new friend, - Sera chirped. – And who are you? – she turned to Jack.

\- I’m her big brother, - he said, and Kozmotis’ heart skipped a beat. So _that_ was why Jack was here. He came looking for his sister.

\- Oh, uh, - Sera looked almost ashamed. – I’ll get her, - and she ran off. Sera was sorry. That wasn’t a feeling she experienced often. It was indeed weird.

\- So Seraphina is your daughter, - Jack said, his face suddenly fallen.

\- Yes, she is. I apologize you had to look for our house. I should have been more responsible.

\- It’s okay, Mr. Pitchiner, - Jack replied. – And where is her mother?

Kozmotis felt a pang in his chest at the question. But it was alright for Jack to be curious.

\- We broke up long ago, when Sera was just a little girl, - he explained. – She didn’t want a child, but she gave birth to her anyways. Our relationship didn’t last. I moved with little Seraphina to another town.

\- Oh, I see. Excuse me, I didn’t know, - Jack said, and he was truly sorry. But Kozmotis saw more than a regular person, so he noticed that Jack was somewhat happy to hear that, although neither of them was sure why.

\- It’s alright. You had every right to ask, plus it was a long time ago. I am perfectly happy with Sera alone.

It was in that moment that Sera decided to burst in, dragging the other girl ( _Pip_ was what Sera called her) along with her.

**

Jack groaned. He’d quickly left the Pitchiners’ house afterwards, leading Pippa home. When the door closed behind them, Jack had shouted at his sister. For the first time. He just couldn’t handle it, he’d been too worried about Pippa to keep his mouth shut. He’d shouted and made her promise it would never happen again. Then he’d locked himself in his room and refused to let anyone in until late evening. Right now he was laying on his bed face down, not even undressed, and the bed was still made. He didn’t care.

What he’d experienced in the Pitchiners’ house made him wonder if he could possibly handle being around Mr. Pitchiner in school. After all, he’d shown up in his home on the first day of them knowing each other! That was sure as hell creepy. But he didn’t want to ruin whatever had settled between them, he liked his new professor and wanted to keep whatever twisted and fragile friendship they had. Talking to him turned out to be the best thing that had happened to Jack in the entire day. He couldn’t bring himself to care about what Jamie would say, what his friends may think of him. He just wanted someone who was like him in a way, and no one else could give him that.

But there was another major issue – things that happened to both of them. Jack didn’t know what it was, but he had a feeling that it was nothing good. He decided to try something out when he recalled banging on Mr. Pitchiner’s door and spreading blue lines across the wood. He turned on his side to face the wall and gently touched it.

Obviously, nothing happened.

Jack inhaled, then exhaled and tried again.

Still nothing.

Then he remembered Mr. Pitchiner’s careful hand on his shoulder, the huge wave of relief when he saw Pippa, the immense joy he felt when talking about Psychology during lunch…

And then he felt it.

There was something inside of him, like a… part of his heart. He couldn’t understand the shape of it, as if it had just started forming, but he just _knew_ it was there. It had always been. Now it was just… awaking. Jack was pretty damn sure it’d be a long time until he actually _learned_ how to control this thing, but feeling it was already getting him somewhere. So, Jack concluded, he didn’t get this thing from simply meeting Mr. Pitchiner (by now he was almost certain it had something to do with him), but rather he was born with it, as was his new teacher. But then, there was another question Jack had, unfortunately, no answer to.

Why did it suddenly decide to awaken?

Was it because Jack had met someone like him?

Did it have anything to do with the school?

Was that weird feeling he got when Mr. Pitchiner touched him anything to go by?

Jack didn’t know. Slowly, he drifted to sleep, still having no answers.

**

It had been a month since Kozmotis began teaching at his new school, and things were seemingly great. He was extremely aware something was very-very _wrong_ deep inside of him, but it seemed to only stir lazily and almost never demanded Kozmotis’ attention. The worst it had gotten to was making black spots on Jack whenever they touched or darkening the room when Kozmotis felt angry or disappointed. Otherwise, it was either sleeping or just waiting for the right moment to show itself. Kozmotis dreaded the day it was probably waiting for.

And then that day came.

It was the beginning of October, the first cold days hitting Burgess. It had been raining since morning, and Kozmotis hated it when it rained. He was already in a foul mood when he arrived at school, but with the stupid kids who never listened it only got worse. Obviously, it decided to explode right when Jack was in his class.

They had been studying consciousness for a while now, so he made up his mind to call a few students up and ask some questions to make sure they understood at least something. Problem was, Kozmotis was not a patient man, and the kids’ slow answers almost made him scowl.

\- James Bennett! – he called, hoping the kid would at least say something. He knew that Jack aced that topic, but he wanted to make sure others did, too. That Bennett kid rarely got less than eighty on his tests, and he was hoping for something decent.

\- Y-yes, Sir, - James (Jamie, as Jack called him) nodded shakily, standing up and coming forwards.

\- Well, James, why don’t you tell me the three layers of our mind? – Kozmotis asked. That question was easy. He couldn’t not know it.

\- Well, - Jamie, scratched his head and looked at him hopelessly. _He has no idea_ , Kozmotis realized. Of course, the boy must have been cheating off Jack’s works. – Uhm… - he flashed his eyes to Jack. – Consciousness… - Jamie began uncertainly. Kozmotis nodded. – Subconsciousness and err… Unconsciousness.

\- Very well, James. Now, can you give me an example of an unconscious state?

\- S-sleep? – Jamie stumbled out.

\- Yes. Another one?

Jamie shrugged. It was obvious Jack had told him the basics, omitting a lot of information to get him at least a D. Well, Kozmotis wasn’t in the mood to give marks for listening to friends.

\- Okay, then explain what subconsciousness is. In your own words, please.

Jamie didn’t say a word. It was obvious he didn’t know. Kozmotis waited one minute, watching Jamie’s eyes dart to Jack, then to the book he had opened, then back to Kozmotis.

\- I… I don’t know, Sir.

\- Well then, name some sleep disorders for me.

\- I don’t know, Sir.

\- Okay, - Kozmotis sighed. He was getting like, _really_ mad. He knew it was that _thing_ in him that made him act and feel this way, but he just couldn’t stop. Not this time.

\- Please, Sir, - Jamie pleaded. – Just give me an F and let me go.

\- I am afraid I have to follow your advice, - Kozmotis said calmly, although he felt anger building up in him. – Next time do please learn things by yourself and throw away that cheat sheet I now know you have. You cannot always use your friend’s brain, you know.

\- Sir! – Jamie cried. – I, I… I wasn’t feeling well, I _know_ your subject!

\- Of course, you do.

\- Sir, please! I…

\- I have heard enough, James.

\- Don’t… - Jamie didn’t have a chance to finish. Kozmotis felt the _thing_ take over him and leapt forward. The last thing he remembered was Jack standing up and shouting “NO!”

**

Jack watched sadly as Mr. Pitchiner kept asking Jamie questions. He could help his friend with the tests, but he couldn’t actually say things for him. Now Psychology was his favorite subject and he aced it. He also knew that Mr. Pitchiner knew he aced it. After all, the lunch break conversations had become a regular for them. They even walked together for a while from school sometimes, and it was fun. First it was only school talks, but then they really began speaking about their lives and they turned out to be _so similar_ it hurt. Jack felt like he’d finally gotten himself a friend who understood, and it was great.

And right now he watched as one of his friends was trying to humiliate the other. Jamie was close to him, too. He never got to really become one of his other friends, but Jamie was so different. They weren’t alike, instead their friendship was built upon their differences and Jack liked it. He liked Jamie and he didn’t like seeing him suffer, although he knew Jamie deserved it.

\- I have heard enough, James, - Mr. Pitchiner said, and Jack opened his mouth. Jamie could only squeak something when the room went dark and Pitch started towards the poor boy, obviously out of control. Jack heard himself screaming and launching forward, and after that everything was a blur.

**

Jack came round somewhere he had never been before. He found he was laying down on a white bed, and the first thing that came to mind was a hospital.

Jack sat up abruptly and noticed someone else in the room. That calmed him down, because it was Mr. Pitchiner that was sitting on the bed beside him, eyes closed, back against the wall. Jack frowned and reached out, touching the other’s shoulder.

\- Mr. Pitchiner? Are you alright? – he asked, suddenly realizing his voice was shaking.

\- Jackson? – Mr. Pitchiner’s eyes snapped open, and he turned to face the boy. – Is everything fine?

\- Uh, probably, - he replied uncertainly. – What about you?

\- I am as fine as I can be right now, - he suddenly looked down. – Jackson.

\- Yes?

\- Do you remember anything? How you got here?

\- Well, - Jack scratched his head, searching for memories. – I remember you asking Jamie questions and he couldn’t answer them. Then… then you rushed forward, and I blocked your way… But after that… I don’t remember. It seems as if I wasn’t myself at the time.

\- Actually, for me it is the same. The last thing I remember is stalking forward and you getting up, - Mr. Pitchiner smiled sadly. – Does something hurt?

\- No, not really. I’m just… sore. – It was the truth. Whatever happened, it didn’t seem to injure Jack at all, it just wore him out.

\- I feel… drained, too. But I woke first, when you were still unconscious and there was a school nurse here. She said we were both wounded and bleeding when she found us. She also told me a girl got her. Apparently, she has seen something very frightening as she was terrified and shaking. But when the nurse came, she told me we were both laying knocked out, blood all over. The girl wouldn’t tell her what she saw. So we can only guess.

\- Or ask Jamie, - Jack suggested. He felt shocked. Blood? But why weren’t they bleeding now? How much time had passed? Certainly not enough for a wound to completely heal!

Mr. Pitchiner wanted to say something, but he was cut off by the nurse who walked in. Jack was at least a little relieved to know they were still in school.

\- Oh good, you’re both awake, - she said. – How are you feeling?

\- Okay, I suppose, - Jack shrugged. He didn’t know what answer she expected.

\- I though you would bleed to death! – she screamed suddenly. – I gave you a lot of painkillers and tied up your wounds, but when I came back to check on you, the wounds were gone! I can’t understand how that is possible! But if you feel fine, you can go, - she said after a small pause. – But I would still suggest staying at home tomorrow, both of you. Better safe than sorry. – With that, the nurse walked out, flashing a smile at them before closing the door.

\- So? What do you think happened? – Mr. Pitchiner asked Jack.

\- As if I know, - Jack sighed. He hated when he didn’t know the answer to a question. – But I have an idea. I just… need to check it. I’m still not sure about this, but I think this is proof enough something is wrong with me. And you. With both of us, - he looked away. His worry started pooling low in his stomach, and suddenly he felt sick. He couldn’t look Mr. Pitchiner in the eye.

\- Jackson, - he heard Mr. Pitchiner say softly. – Whatever you are thinking, stop it. Everything is fine. Nothing is wrong with you. We just need to find out what it is that makes us different.

\- Yeah, and dangerous, - Jack bit his lip. – Mr. Pitchiner…

\- Please, Jackson. You are making it harder for yourself. I was lying here all the time until you woke, and I was thinking you were hurt, and that you would never wake up. I was thinking that I… - Mr. Pitchiner didn’t finish, he just grabbed Jack by the chin, forcing him to look up.

\- I… Mr. Pitchiner…

\- Just shut up, - he suddenly breathed, and Jack felt he was being pulled into an embrace. So far they hadn’t really touched each other except for the occasional pat on the shoulder or an accidental brush of hands. It was unexpectedly nice – being held by strong arms, feeling safe.

\- I thought I’d lost you, - Mr. Pitchiner said, and Jack felt tears prickling at his eyes. He was important. Someone cared. He uncertainly lifted his arms and placed them on the other’s back. The bliss lasted for a few more moments when suddenly Jack’s hands got even colder and he felt _something_ oozing out of them right on Mr. Pitchiner’s back. At the same time his own back felt warmer than normal, and a strange substance was running over it. It felt nice and soft, like clouds maybe. But at that time it didn’t feel important, and Jack just eased into the embrace, letting his powers take over. At least they were safe now.

When Mr. Pitchiner pulled back abruptly, Jack wasn’t ready, so he just fell forward, but arms encircled his back again and pushed him back up into a sitting position. When his head wasn’t filled with mush anymore, Jack realized the room was wrong. It was darker than it should be, and…

Something white was spreading across the floor, centered beneath Jack and going out in all directions. It seemed so out of place that Jack didn’t risk touching it, but he somehow knew it hadn’t been there before. He was sure it was his powers that had done it. And Mr. Pitchiner… his eyes were fixed on Jack’s waist where he’d held him, and Jack followed his gaze there. He couldn’t see his back, but his front was enough. He was encircled in that thing he’d felt, only it wasn’t cloudy white. It was _black_.

\- Jackson, - Mr. Pitchiner said firmly. – You are not coming home today.

\- What? – Jack felt dizzy. Why wasn’t he allowed to go home?

\- You can call your mother and tell her you will be staying over at a friend’s house. Or you can say there is a party. Tell her whatever you want on the way home with me.

\- I’ll be staying at yours? – Jack was utterly confused.

\- For today at the least. I can now understand what happened back in the classroom. I don’t know what it is or why it happened, but we need to stay together as close as possible until we figure it out. I will send Seraphina away somewhere for tonight too. We will be alone in the house, so we will not put anyone in danger.

\- But why now? Maybe it was just an outburst, and it won’t happen again, - Jack tried. Not that he didn’t like the idea of staying with Mr. Pitchiner in the house alone… What?!

\- Look at yourself, Jackson, - he laughed sadly. – Look in the mirror. This is not “just an outburst”.

Jack fumbled with his pants, trying to fish out his mobile phone. Turning on the selfie camera, he looked at himself and gasped. One of his eyes was turning blue, and there was a strand of perfectly white hair next to his ear.

**

Kozmotis sighed, relaxing against the sofa. Seraphina was long gone, now probably playing games with Jack’s sister. It had been expectantly easy to send her away. Jack quickly convinced his mother to take Sera in and let him go to “that cool party at Jamie’s”. They just had to hope Jamie wouldn’t give Jack away, or that Jack’s mother wouldn’t call Jamie to check if her son was alright. Kozmotis had suggested phoning Jamie to ask him a favor, but Jack refused and blushed. Kozmotis wondered why.

Jack was sitting on the floor, cross-legged, and trying to focus. He said he wanted to try using his powers without emotions helping him, but apparently the Force wasn’t with him today. The only thing that he’d managed to do is change his appearance even more, white hair now steadily growing over brown. His left eye was completely blue now and his right was half-brown, half-blue. His skin seemed to get even paler than before, no sign of blush whatsoever on his cheeks. He looked sick, and Kozmotis would say he was if he didn’t know better. What scared Kozmotis was that he’d probably start changing too. But what would he become? Jack seemed to stay perfectly human, except for the unusual paleness and weird hair color. What if Kozmotis grew a pair of horns? Or worse, a tail?

He was too busy thinking to realize he was staring at Jack.

\- Uh, Mr. Pitchiner? – Jack squeaked, shaking Kozmotis out of his thoughts.

\- I believe that in the current situation it is rather funny to call me that. It’s just Kozmotis.

\- Well, - Jack stuttered. – Kozmotis, you… have you seen yourself?

That was what he’d dreaded.

\- No? What do I look like?

\- Well… - Jack repeated. He seemed shocked. – Go and see.

Kozmotis strode to the hallway where he had a big mirror. He was already imagining the worst – horns, perhaps teeth sticking out, becoming the Devil… When he finally reached that mirror, he found that it wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined, but his situation was worse than Jack’s.

To start with, his _skin_. Bloody hell, how do you explain it suddenly turning to a pretty shade of gray?! It wasn’t gray everywhere, although he assumed it was getting there. Rather, it was changing color in patches: one on his forehead, his left cheek, the small oval on his neck, his hands… It was the worst, but not the only change. He noticed his eyes becoming a brighter silver and slightly shifting, similar to that of a cat’s. His eyebrows had always been thin, but now they seemed to completely disappear. Well again, not all of them; in parts. He didn’t have a clue how to explain it all to Seraphina, let alone the kids in school.

He returned to the room at the same pace, his face in his hands, muttering curses. He sat down hard on the sofa, beginning to rock back and forth. What did they do now? Well, at least they were together.

The thought of it sent shivers down Kozmotis’ spine. What was he thinking? He’d never intended getting this close to Jack. He’d had him right where he wanted him, but now it was spinning out of control. Actually, it wasn’t that surprising; they _did_ need to stick together to figure out their problem. But another problem, just as big as the first one, was freaking feelings towards the teenager. _Teenager_ , Kozmotis reminded himself. He was his student, goddamnit! He was still in school! Kozmotis couldn’t remember why he’d started that weird friendship in the first place.

\- Kozmotis? – he heard Jack’s uncertain voice. – You’re making it dark.

Kozmotis lifted his head and he saw it. The room was pitch black, he couldn’t even see Jack properly. He tried calming himself down, but he only managed to make it worse, shadows (or whatever it was) spilling out of his palms. But then he heard footsteps, and Jack kneeled in front of him, taking his hands in his own.

\- Koz, I need you to listen to my voice, okay? I am here, I am real, and I need you to calm down. Think about me. Think about something nice. Force a smile. I need you to stop worrying, and don’t think of hurting anyone, okay? Come on, Koz, you can do it.

Jack kept mumbling something, and eventually Kozmotis relaxed. The room slowly became lighter and soon turned into normal twilight. Jack was in front of him, smiling.

\- Wow, - Kozmotis uttered. – You handled that perfectly.

\- You know, I used to have panic attacks back when I was a kid, and the doctors would do these things to get me out of it. I thought it was the same thing, so there you go, - he grinned.

\- Thank you, Jack, - he said honestly. – Wait. Did you just call me Koz?

\- Well, yeah? Is it bad? I won’t do it again if you like… - Jack blushed and turned away. Kozmotis noticed that his blush was a shade of purple.

\- It’s fine, Jack. It’s just… No one ever called me that since my wife left me… - he looked down. – But I’ll let you, if you want.

\- Yeah, okay, - Jack slowly smiled again. – So, what do we do?

That was a good question. What did they do? The answer came quickly.

\- We hit the books.

**

\- Wow! Is that all yours? – Jack asked, eyes wide. Koz actually had a full basement filled with books! The library was divided into sections, a lot of them, each containing dozens of bookcases with ten shelves each. That meant the total number of books was close to five thousand, if not more.

\- Yes. I was a military man before I married Onyx, but after the wedding I had to resign. I couldn’t find a job at first, so Onyx worked, and I occupied myself with reading. Onyx brought a lot of books to me, so my collection grew even faster. When she left, she decided to leave them all to me. She never enjoyed reading as much as I did anyway.

\- Oh, so you worked in the military? – Jack was utterly fascinated. – What branch? – They’d never talked of Koz’s early years of life before, only the time he’d been married to Onyx.

\- Navy. I became a General about two years before I resigned.

\- Oh my god, Koz, that’s awesome! How old were you?

\- If I recall correctly, around twenty-seven.

\- Gosh! You were so young! What made you go into Psychology then? – Koz made Jack admire him more and more with every word. Seriously, he’d been enchanted before, but now?

\- I always enjoyed working with my brain more than with my body. I suppose I became good at reading people after being in command of the whole navy. Plus, all the books I’ve read… I came to like Psychology more than I ever liked the military, - Koz smiled. – But we are here to find some information, - he straightened up. Now Jack thought he knew where that pose had come from. – You see those two sections on the far right? This is mythology. I take the one closer to the wall, you take the other one. I have no idea what to look for, but you should probably stick to whatever corresponds to our powers. If you find anything that might be useful, just put that book somewhere where you can easily fetch it later and keep going. We will go through everything we can find later together.

Jack beamed at him and immediately set to work. He _loved_ reading, especially mythology and legends. He had the impression that however vague his idea was about what to look for, he’d enjoy his time here anyway, with all those books around.

He noticed that the books were standing in the alphabetical order. ‘A’ brought no results, just some histories of myths, but that wasn’t what he needed. He went through ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ just as quickly, as those shelves were useless too. He snatched a couple books from the ‘E’ section, one of them titled “Every Supernatural Creature That Could Exist”, then grabbed two more from the ‘I’ shelf. But when he moved on to ‘J’ and started dragging his finger across the covers, it somehow stopped on one book that seemed completely out of place there, as it had no title and no pictures. Just a smooth black cover.

Jack grabbed the book and decided to open it now instead of just laying it together with the others. He had a feeling he would find something very-very important in here.

He opened the book on the first page. It was blank. He turned another page, then another. All of them were plain, all completely white. Jack frowned. Why would anyone keep an empty book?

He closed the book and opened it up from the other side. The last page (thankfully) wasn’t blank. It was titled “Contents” and then there were sections. Jack stared at it. He sat down on the floor and began going through the pages again. They were still empty, only they couldn’t be! They had to be filled with information!

Jack bit his lip and flipped to the contents again, this time paying attention to the titles of the chapters. _Seeing them would indeed help_ , Jack thought, as he realized this book had all magical creatures covered in there. He dragged his finger across the page, down through “Banshees”, “Rugarus”, “Werewolves” and such until, at the very end, he found an interesting additional chapter called “Element Spirits”. Jack raised an eyebrow, noting the page number and then sighing again. He wouldn’t be able to read it no matter how much he wanted to. Why would Koz have an empty book in his library? Out of curiosity? By the way…

\- Koz! – Jack called. – Koz!

\- Yes, Jack? – came from behind the bookcase.

\- I need your help with something, can you come over here?

\- Just a second! – and in a moment, Jack saw Koz’s tall, lean figure in between the shelves, approaching him. He noticed that the other’s face was filled with concern.

\- What happened? – Koz asked. – Are you hurt?

\- No, no, not at all, - Jack assured him. – Look here. – He waited until Koz kneeled in front of him and pointed to the book, still opened at the contents. – So I found this book, it had no title, was just plain black. I opened it to see, and there’s nothing! Just the contents, but this isn’t really helpful, especially considering I might have actually found something. Look, here’s a chapter called “Element Spirits”, and I just feel we can get something out of it! But I have no idea how to read it, - Jack said, face fallen.

\- I have never been able to read it either, - Koz said suddenly. – I don’t even know why I keep it. It’s just… One time, when Seraphina was still in kindergarten, she brought home this book. She never said how she got it though. She told me she’d found it on the street, but I hardly believe that. Sera was too small to read it back then, so she asked me to do it, but I only saw the contents, just like you. I guess the mystery lies in where Seraphina got that book.

\- That sucks, - Jack drawled. – Have you found anything? ‘Cause I have a few.

**

They hadn’t found anything. Not even a clue. All the books had been useless. Kozmotis closed the last one and set it aside. They were laying comfortably on the floor next to each other, flipping through pages with tons of utterly useless information. Kozmotis had a feeling that the answer lay in the book Seraphina had found all those years ago, and he was certain Jack felt the same. Either way, they had the book on the table, and all attempts to reveal its secrets had been useless. And it was already past midnight, and Jack was yawning. Both of them were too tired to do anything.

\- Jack? – Kozmotis asked, eyes barely open.

\- Hmm? – the other replied lazily.

\- I think it is time to go to bed. Come on, you can sleep in the guest room, there is a comfortable double-bed in there. I believe I have a spare toothbrush and a towel somewhere in the bathroom closet.

\- Okay, - Jack said, head falling on the floor.

\- Let’s get you up. It’s not that far, it’s the first door on the right, second floor.

\- Mph, - Jack made an incoherent sound as Kozmotis attempted to get him up. God, Jack was heavy. He probably would’ve been lighter, but he didn’t hold himself, he was too tired to do that. Kozmotis gave up on trying to stand him up as he couldn’t and just picked Jack up bridal style and carried him upstairs. He opened the door to Jack’s room and brought him inside, laying him down on the bed carefully.

\- Sleep well, - he whispered, smiling softly when he noticed Jack was already snoring. He walked out of the guest room and closed the door behind him quietly, heading towards his own bed.

 

Kozmotis couldn’t fall asleep. He tossed and turned, trying to calm himself down, but it was useless. He just gave up on it after the clock showed it was three thirty and got up. He was still wearing his pants and shirt from the day, he hadn’t bothered changing. Kozmotis padded through the hallway silently, reaching the staircase to the attic. He climbed it as quietly as possible not to bother Jack and opened the door in the ceiling of the attic which led to the roof.

Kozmotis got out and breathed the fresh air. Oh, how he loved sitting here at night. He’d gotten used to doing this when Onyx left, and he was alone in his bed. Then he got used to falling asleep with the other side of the bed empty, but the bloody habit never really went away. He always made sure Sera didn’t know, or she would shower him with pleas to take her with him. He was alone with the constellations on the roof, and he enjoyed it oh so very much. But this time, he wasn’t alone.

Jack was perched up on the very edge of the roof, his legs hanging down and his head thrown back. He looked so peaceful out here that Kozmotis already turned to leave, but Jack noticed the movement anyways.

\- Koz? – he asked sheepishly. – I’m sorry, I’m already leaving…

\- It’s fine, - Kozmotis interrupted, smiling. – I went up here to do the same thing.

\- Really? – Jack’s face lit up. – Come here then, - he smirked, patting the spot next to him. Kozmotis rolled his eyes but approached the edge carefully and sat down.

\- I come here when I can’t sleep, - Kozmotis said quietly. – I like the view. It’s peaceful. I used to come here every night once my wife left me… Now it’s just a habit, I suppose.

\- Really? – Jack said just as quietly. – I, well… I do this too. That’s why I came straight here. You know, I woke up in an unfamiliar bed, all alone and it was too dark… I decided to search for the entrance to the roof and I found it. I suppose I do this because I’m… careless up here. It’s just me and the stars, you know. I don’t have any responsibilities, and I feel free. Koz, I… - Kozmotis noticed Jac’s eyes were full of tears.

\- Jack? – he asked worriedly, putting a hand on Jack’s shoulder. – What’s wrong?

\- Koz, - he sobbed. – I never told this to anyone. This is sort of… personal. And the fact that I told you…

\- You didn’t have to.

\- I know, but I wanted to. I… I trust you, - Jack finished in a whisper. Kozmotis felt him move closer and put his forehead on his shoulder.

\- It’s okay, Jack, - Kozmotis put an arm around Jack’s shoulders. – It’s okay.

They sat there, close to each other, for god knows how long, until Kozmotis heard Jack’s breathing even out. He turned his head and saw Jack had fallen asleep again. He laughed softly, but this time he didn’t leave. He just laid back, holding Jack with both of his arms and letting the boy’s head rest on his chest. He closed his eyes and found himself drifting to sleep too.

**

Jack stayed at Koz’s place the next day, and by evening he felt fine. His appearance had somehow slowed the changing down, so the hair was growing white steadily, but slowly, and the still-brown eye had stopped glowing blue as much. His skin, however, was all pale now, but that wasn’t as noticeable. Jack actually was fine with everything as long as no one asked him questions.

Koz’s situation was much worse, however, with the skin and eye shape. Jack had laughed when Koz had told him he’d been expecting horns or something, and yeah, that was definitely much better. But the skin the color of “Fifty Shades of Grey” wasn’t as easy to pass off as normal as pale skin, but Koz had said he’d think of something. Of course, he would.

The next morning Jack woke up at seven thirty and announced he was going to school, as was Koz. Koz grumbled something but agreed and confessed he was starting to miss Sera who had been staying at Jack’s all along. They both just had to hope the girls had gone to school the previous day when Jack and Koz had skipped. Jack promised he’d ask Pippa or, perhaps, his mother.

The trip to school was eventless, they talked about everything and nothing, avoiding the fact that they still hadn’t found a way to read that blasted book. Koz had promised he’d dig something up, but Jack wasn’t sure he could. He silently promised to ask Jamie, of course, not saying anything about why he needed that.

It turned out their first class that day was Psychology, so Jack and Koz happily went to the classroom together and entered it just as the bell rang. Jack slumped against the back of his chair and waved hi to Jamie who was eyeing him suspiciously.

\- We’ll talk during the break, - he said.

The class was really interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary happened, and Jack was thankful. Koz had used some concealer to cover the gray skin showing, but in Jack’s case that wasn’t exactly helpful. What could he do, really?

Jack cursed everything when the bell rang, and Jamie dragged him out by the elbow, thankfully grabbing him through a layer of clothing protecting his ice-cold skin from touch. Jamie dragged them both into a quiet corner, pushed Jack against the wall and said one word, “Explain”.

\- Well, - Jack began uncertainly. – I am, err, - he didn’t know what to say.

\- Let’s start easy, - Jamie sighed. – Where have you been yesterday? I was worried sick!

\- Koz’s place, - Jack said automatically, then his eyes widened. – Shit, I meant…

\- Koz? – Jamie asked, shock clear on his face. – Jack, _really_? Koz?!

\- Uhm, yeah, well, why not? – Jack squeaked.

\- Let’s pretend I’m satisfied, - Jamie frowned. – Well then, what the _fuck_ happened the day before yesterday in class when you blasted… - he trailed off.

\- _What_ did I do?! – Jack was curious and scared at the same time.

\- You don’t remember?

\- No, not really. If you could just tell me…

\- So, - Jamie glanced around. – I sort of backed away from Mr. Pitchiner when he started towards me, and then you got up and uhm, did something like, really weird. I’ve never seen anything like this before… It was like cold and snow was coming out of you and I thought you were going to kill Mr. Pitchiner but he kind of used some black thing to cover himself and then struck, - Jamie was talking really fast, and Jack felt more terrified with every word. – You just kept doing that, and then the room suddenly went cold and dark… It was too dark to even see around, and Ashley took off to get the nurse because you were screaming in pain, as we assumed… When they returned, the room was back to normal though it was still cold, and you were both bleeding out on the floor, - Jamie’s face was white at this point. – You looked like you passed out or something, we were so damn… _scared_ , - Jamie whispered that word. – I dunno. It was like… that _feeling_ , it felt like Mr. Pitchiner was spreading it out around himself, you know? And he was _eating_ our fear, sucking it out, but at the same time making it stronger somehow. Like a dementor.

\- Did… did I do the same thing? – Jack whispered.

\- No, no, you were different, but no less scary, - Jamie confessed. – The cold we felt… It was coming from you. As if you were making it cold, which is downright ridiculous, but at that point I’ll just believe everything because today you showed up with half-white hair and a blue eye.

\- I’m sorry, - Jack whispered. – I really don’t remember anything about that accident. I’m so sorry about that… I spent the day at Koz’s… I mean, Mr. Pitchiner’s house because we were trying to figure out what was wrong with us, and we couldn’t, - Jack looked down. – Please, Jamie. I’m gonna tell you something, but you can’t talk about it with anyone okay?

\- Cross my heart and hope to die, - Jamie said seriously.

\- So after that… thing that happened I started changing, - Jack began. – It was little at first, but then I got colder, my skin got paler and… this, - he pointed to his hair. – I have no bloody idea what’s happening, but I think Koz… Err, Mr. Pitchiner got something to do with it. I mean, - Jack stumbled. – He’s changing too. He applied some concealer, but you should’ve seen him. His skin is going gray, and his eyes are switching forms. We don’t know why, but it started since we set foot in here. I mean, at home it’s not so noticeable, it’s as if the school is to blame. I don’t know, - Jack threw his hands in the air. – I can’t actually explain it because we still have no idea what’s going on.

\- I think you should look for books on that, - Jamie suggested.

\- Yeah, you think we didn’t try? Koz… I mean…

\- Oh shut it, - Jamie waved at him. – I get it. Call him Koz if you feel like it, - he smirked smugly. Jack felt like he knew what Jamie was hinting at, so he flushed.

\- Okay, so, well, Koz has a huge library in the basement of his house, and we looked all over the place. And Jamie, you know, we found this book, - Jack scratched his head. – It had only the contents visible, but all the other things are impossible to read. The pages are just plain white. Can you imagine? I _know_ that book will help somehow, but we have no idea how to read it.

\- Well, - Jamie bit his lip. – When we were like ten, me and my friends used to send each other secret letters. We used milk to write them and waited for it to dry and the sheets were perfectly blank afterwards. Then, when we got the letter, all we had to do is warm the sheet up a bit with a candle or just a lamp or something, and the words just showed up. Perhaps here it’s kind of the same. You should try warming it up, maybe it’ll help.

\- You think it’s that simple? – Jack asked disbelievingly.

\- Why not? Where did Mr. Pitchiner get it anyway?

\- He said Sera brought it home, but he never got to know where she got it. Sera said she’d found it on the street…

\- Who’s Sera?

\- Seraphina. She’s Koz’s daughter…

\- How old was she when she got it?

\- Like three or four or something, I dunno. Why?

\- You see, at that age kids are practically a gift wrapped up for all the weird guys. They are so trusting it’s no big deal to trick them. Was Mr. Pitchiner around when she found it?

\- No, um, why?

\- See? There’s this possibility that someone gave it to her and told her to keep it just in case. Wait a second… - Jamie frowned.

\- What?

\- How old is Seraphina now?

\- Err, she’s around eight.

\- So that happened around what, four years ago?

\- Sounds like it.

\- You know… - Jamie scratched his head. – About four years ago, North told us about this book he’d found in his closet at home, he said it was empty and wrapped in black leather. He had no idea what it was and why it was there, but he carried it with him everywhere. And then one day he told us he’d given it to a child who needed it more. I suppose he meant Seraphina then…

\- Did he say why he chose Sera?

\- Uh, no? He said he felt it. In his belly.

\- Well, that explains a lot… Okay, thanks anyway, Jamie. We’ll try that warming thing.

\- Thank _you_ , Jack, I was scared shitless for you, - Jamie clapped him on the shoulder. – Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to anyone. I’m not a rat, - he grinned. – Oh, and Jack?

\- Yeah?

\- So you said Mr. Pitchiner has a daughter… Doesn’t that mean he has a wife?

\- Well, - Jack was stunned by the reaction. He couldn’t even say Koz was divorced.

\- How are you planning on hitting on him then? – Jamie asked, and Jack choked on air.

\- JAMIE! – he shouted, horrified. He was pretty sure he was blushing.

\- So?

\- For starters, I’m not _hitting_ _on_ anyone, - Jack stated, voice rough. – And fuck, Koz is divorced. He’s just raising his daughter. – He was still mildly in shock from Jamie’s blatant hinting on the bloody butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw Koz.

\- Oh, okay then, good luck, - Jamie grinned and turned away, ignoring Jack’s enraged “Jamie!!” and walking off.

**

\- It’s obvious you like him, - Jamie stated calmly later, when they were walking together to lunch break. – Have you seen the way you’re staring? It makes all things nice and clear.

\- Shit, - Jack grabbed at his head.

\- So it’s true then, - Jamie grinned. – Well, are you planning on telling him?

\- No! – Jack’s eyes widened. – I’m never telling him! He’ll just laugh at me! Or worse… - he trailed off.

\- Come on, - Jamie sing-songed. – You think he doesn’t feel the same? The only reason he still has no idea about it is that he’s too busy dealing with his own feelings. Jack, please, - he continued when he saw Jack’s face. – You’re making it harder for everyone.

\- No, Jamie, don’t even think about it. I’m not going to ruin whatever fragile thing we have between us…

\- I wouldn’t call it fragile…

\- Because of my stupid feelings! – Jack finished. – He’s a _man_ , Jamie!

\- It’s totally okay in the 21st century to like your own gender, - Jamie shrugged it off.

\- No, I mean, he’s thirty something! He can’t feel the same towards me! He just sees me as a _kid_ with the same problem!

Jack finished screaming and he couldn’t understand why Jamie was smiling broadly and not saying a word. After a second, he realized his friend was staring somewhere behind him and whipped around only to find Koz leaning on the table not so far away, his eyes glued to Jack.

\- Bloody hell, Jamie! – Jack turned back around. – What do I do now?!

But Jamie was long gone, probably somewhere in the hallway. Jack was so busy shouting that he hadn’t realized they’d walked in the canteen and there were eyes on them, there sure were. And shit, how was he going to explain it to Koz?!

\- Hello, Jack, - Koz greeted him with a small smile, coming towards him, stepping a little closer than usual, so Jack had to lift his head to look at him. – How are you feeling?

\- Fine, - Jack whimpered. – Koz, I…

\- I haven’t been eavesdropping, I didn’t hear a word of what you were saying to Jamie. Your secrets are safe, - he smiled wider, resting a hand on Jack’s shoulder. – Come on, let’s go and find a table to sit.

**

Of course, Kozmotis had lied. But he didn’t feel one bit guilty, because otherwise Jack would feel uncomfortable. Geez, he was _still_ uncomfortable. But that was totally fine considering what _Kozmotis_ felt. He’d been trying to deny whatever he felt for Jack, and what now? He accidentally overhears a conversation in which Jack practically screams “I like Kozmotis” for everyone to hear. Of course, he didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it had been an accident, but that didn’t mean Kozmotis wasn’t happy to hear it. He just didn’t know what to make of it. Tell Jack? No. That wasn’t an option. They couldn’t be together, regardless of what their feelings were. Jack had been right, Kozmotis was a man with more than thirty years behind, a lost wife, and an eight-year-old child, and Jack was still young, and he still had his shot at happiness. But what if he said nothing? Would that ruin whatever it was between them? Kozmotis felt awkward, because he was at an advantage here. He knew about Jack’s feelings, but Jack didn’t know about his. Was that fair? Should he tell him and talk to him so they both decide? Because right now it felt like Kozmotis was deciding for Jack. But Jack was young, too young, and he probably couldn’t understand the responsibility that would come with such a relationship, not to mention it was illegal. Jack wasn’t even eighteen! Kozmotis sighed and silently prayed for Jack to drop it.

\- Jack, - he spoke, when they settled down with their food. – Have you learned anything about the book?

\- Yeah, actually, - he smiled. – Um, Jamie thinks we should warm the pages. Oh, and I think I know how Sera got it in the first place.

\- Oh?

\- Yeah. Jamie said North had this book four years ago and he gave it to some kid on the street because he felt it was right. Geez, that kid was like ninety percent Sera!

\- I think someone will receive a _talk_ when they get home for lying and talking to strangers, - Kozmotis smirked. But he was delighted to hear at least one thing they could possible try.

\- I don’t doubt it, - Jack looked at him with that stare he often used, and then Kozmotis _saw_ it.  He saw the affection in Jack’s eyes, the awe, the enchantment. Oh gods, Jack really was attracted to him, and it had probably started long ago. Kozmotis couldn’t help but smile at that, biting his lip and realizing Jack’s gaze dropped to his lips. He really didn’t think about what he was doing when he reached out and covered Jack’s hand with his. Their eyes met again, Jack’s shocked gaze meeting his own. Kozmotis felt himself leaning closer and…

Suddenly he snapped out of it, realizing their faces were too close. He stiffened, and Jack sure felt it, because he darted away and started murmuring apologies. Kozmotis smiled at that.

\- It’s alright, Jack. I am sorry.

\- Shit… Fuck! Koz! Why… - Jack began shouting, not knowing where to put his hands. – You did that on purpose didn’t you? Oh crap, why, why, why, why?! Oh no…

\- Jack, shh, it’s fine. I haven’t changed my mind about you, it’s okay. I don’t think bad of you, I promise. So… are you coming tonight to see that book?

\- Koz, I… I can’t… my sister… yeah… I should go, - Jack stood up abruptly and ran off. Kozmotis just had to hope it didn’t mark the end of everything. He sighed and left too, leaving his food untouched. He wasn’t hungry anymore.

**

It had been a week since they last spoke. Kozmotis had been thinking. A lot. He hadn’t touched that book, hoping Jack would come back. But he still hadn’t. He promptly sat quietly in class, but all the walking together and the talks during lunch had stopped. It pained Kozmotis, because he’d come to realize Jack had become an important part of his life. He missed him.

He missed the way Jack’s eyes brightened when he laughed, missed the way he’d smile when they’d talk about his sister. He missed the way he’d blush, missed the unnatural cold of his skin. He missed the way he’d listen, the way he’d smirk when he’d prove Kozmotis wrong. He missed Jack calling him “Koz”. He missed the now unmistakable adoration in his eyes.

Because he, Kozmotis, had fallen in love at his age of “thirty something”, as Jack had put it.

Well, it was about time to admit it. He was laying in his bed at one fifty-eight (he was checking the clock literally every minute), but sleep wouldn’t come. Sera was snoring in her room, untroubled, but Kozmotis had all sorts of things to worry about. He bit his lip, deciding tomorrow he’d confront Jack and talk to him, accepting the outcome regardless of what it’d be.

With that, Kozmotis was about to turn again when he heard a sound like someone had fallen outside. He frowned.

\- Sera? Darling, is that you? – he got up to look out the window. It was too dark to see who it was out there, but there definitely was a small figure, most likely a girl, but it also could be a boy around sixteen. It was certainly not Sera, she was too young, but Kozmotis guessed it wasn’t a burglar, at least.

\- Who’s there? – he asked again. The figure seemed to get up, but he still couldn’t see who it was from the second floor. – Hello?

The figure stilled, but then continued moving to the direction, Kozmotis realized, of the door. He was horrified. What the hell?! He quickly put on something acceptable to be seen in and rushed down the stairs. The door was obviously locked, but who knew? Maybe the person could break in.

He rushed to the door which was thankfully closed and put his ear to the door, listening. There certainly _was_ someone out there on the other side, and it seemed like they were scared. But Kozmotis couldn’t open the door until he was sure it was safe.

\- Who’s there? – he asked again, and it brought no answer. At least, not a verbal one. Instead, he heard sobbing, and it sounded like a young man, a teenager perhaps. Kozmotis bit his lip. He recalled all those self-defense techniques while he turned the lock-

And he instantly forgot everything when Jack rushed forward through the doorway, flinging into his arms. His shoulder was already wet from all the tears, and all Kozmotis could really do was stand there and hold the boy, running a soothing hand down his back. He whispered ridiculous things while he closed the door and led Jack to the living room, setting them down on a couch. Jack didn’t calm down in the slightest, so Kozmotis found he didn’t have any other choice. He just grabbed the teen by his waist and pulled him closer, making him sit in his lap like a small child. Slowly, Jack calmed down, his cries settling and becoming sobs, then whimpers, then breaths, eventually leaving the boy relaxing against Kozmotis’ chest.

\- Jack, - he whispered. – It’s okay. I am here.

\- Koz, - Jack said, voice cracking. – I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t… You’ve been away so long, and I put that distance, I’m sorry, oh god, Koz, I’m so sorry, please, please forgive me, - he started shaking again.

\- It’s alright. I forgive you, - he said, and he truly meant it.

\- Koz… - Jack pressed closer. – You must know it by now, but I like you. I like you so goddamn much. I understand you don’t feel the same, but just so you know… Just don’t leave. Don’t leave, - he finished breathlessly. – I came here at night because I was so freaking scared. You haven’t been around, and I was so lonely and so afraid… I broke out and came here because I couldn’t handle it anymore… Shit, Koz, I just…

\- Jack, - he said firmly, making Jack look into his eyes. – I know. I have known for longer than I think I have, probably.

\- Please don’t shut me out, - Jack clung to him again. – Please…

\- I won’t, - Kozmotis ran a hand through Jack’s hair, now almost completely white. – I think… no. I know I like you too.

\- Really? – this time it was Jack who pulled away, locking eyes once more. – You mean it? You like me? – Kozmotis nodded. – Oh god…

Jack looked so happy and lost at the same time, he didn’t know where to look or put his hands, and Kozmotis laughed softly. He wrapped his arms around the boy’s waist, bracing himself for what he was about to do. Once he did, there was no turning back.

Their lips met for the first time, touching lightly. It was clear Jack had no idea what to do, he just gasped in shock and grabbed Kozmotis by the shoulders, pressing closer. Kozmotis moved his lips against Jack’s softly, trying to keep it gentle. Jack was just sitting there, and that made Kozmotis happy for some reason. He knew he was Jack’s first, and that lightened something inside of him, and he flicked his tongue across Jack’s bottom lip.

The reaction was immediate. Jack breathed in air sharply and parted his lips, allowing Kozmotis’ tongue in. Kozmotis tightened his hold on Jack, tasting the other’s mouth from the inside. He ran his tongue across the teeth, the inside of his cheeks, and Jack moaned softly, hesitantly attempting to answer the kiss, touching Kozmotis’ tongue with his own.

Kozmotis wasn’t sure what to do at first, but then he twisted his tongue around Jack’s, making him moan again, oh that sweet sound. He felt Jack shift on his thighs, so he was straddling him, and they held each other even tighter, and that made Kozmotis lose control. He pressed Jack into him and kissed him deeper, feeling his own brain turn into mush. It took every ounce of his self-control not to flip Jack onto the couch and do… other things. So he pulled away slightly, smiling at Jack’s facial expression.

\- Well?

**

They should have done something. They should have looked at that book, because the problem hadn’t gone anywhere. Instead, they had spent most of the night on the living room couch cuddling and occasionally kissing, saying stupid things about each other. Apparently, Jack had fallen asleep somewhere close to dawn, because when he woke up, he was still on that same couch, but alone, and the sun was high up in the sky.

\- Koz? – Jack croaked, looking around. It seemed like he was alone.

\- Jack! – he suddenly heard. When he turned to see who it was, he met gazes with Seraphina who was running down the stairs. – You’re awake!

\- Yeah, guess so, - he mumbled. – Sera, what time’s it?

\- One forty, - Sera said proudly. – Been sleeping long, haven’t you?

\- Yeah, um, - Jack bit his lip and winced in pain. His lips hurt from last night’s activities, but it was nice. – Where’s your father?

\- He’s out shopping, - Sera chirped. – It’s Sunday, and he always goes shopping on Sundays. – Jack, why’s your hair turning white? The last time I saw you it was browner.

\- Err, it’s something I don’t understand either, - Jack said, and it was almost true. – Wait a minute, - he’d just realized he’d gone to someone else in the middle of the night and no one knew where he was. Pippa was probably throwing a fit back home. – Sera, is there a phone in your house? Like, the old type?

\- Yeah, it’s right there, - she pointed to the hallway. – You want to call someone?

\- It’s just… no one knows I’m here, I’m worried about my family.

\- Oh, that, - Sera smiled and brushed back her floor-length hair. – Dad already called, he told them you were fine. But I think he promised you’d call once you woke up.

\- Thanks, Sera, I’m going to call them right now, - Jack smiled and rushed to the phone. Oh, he could already hear all the screams.

Jack quickly dialed the digits and fidgeted with his shirt waiting for someone to answer. Finally he heard his mother’s voice, and it was just the same as he’d expected.

\- Hello?

\- Mom, hey. It’s… - he didn’t even have the chance to finish.

\- JACKSON OVERLAND! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! NO NOTE, NO WARNING! YOU JUST DISAPPEARED FROM THE HOUSE! I’M WORRIED SICK, AND WHAT I RECEIVE IS A CALL FROM A STRANGER SAYING YOU’RE AT HIS PLACE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, JACK?! – Jack stared at the floor. He never knew how to behave while he was being screamed at.

\- Mom, there’s no reason to shout. I’m fine. I’m not even far from home. I’m in the neighbor block…

\- WITH WHO?!

\- Uh, it’s K… Mr. Pitchiner, my teacher…. – he felt like he had to tell the truth. – Didn’t he introduce himself?

\- He said his name was Kozmotis, but nothing else, - his mother seemed to have calmed down a little. – And pray tell, why did you take off to his house in the middle of the night? I hope I am wrong when I think what you could have been occupied with all night.

\- Mom! – Jack screamed, horrified. – No, that’s not what you think it is! We just… we have things to do, and I completely forgot to warn you.

\- Just this once, I forgive you. But if this happens again… - his mother warned him.

\- Yeah, I get it. Sorry, Mom.

\- I hope to see you home in an hour. You need to do your homework, and Pippa needs your help with hers. Okay?

\- Yeah, sure, Mom. Bye! – and Jack hung up. An hour? That meant around thirty more minutes at Pitchiner’s place. He hoped to get to know Sera more and at least talk to Koz. Jack decided he’d wait for Koz to come back, and then he’d go. But in the meantime…

\- Hey Sera! I’m sorry, can I get some coffee?

**

Jack and Sera were seated in the kitchen, Jack sipping the remains of his coffee and Sera munching on her third apple. They had been talking a _lot_ and Jack liked it. He really enjoyed Sera’s company, even though she was no older than Pippa. Thanks to his experience with kids, he was a great person for Sera to communicate and play with. The girl was truly weird, but a good kind of weird, and Jack had lots of fun with her.

And then Koz came back.

Just as he heard the key turning, Jack jumped up, leaving Sera at the table, and ran to the front door. He approached it just in time and was standing there when Koz got in with two bags of groceries.

\- Hey, - Jack was unsure of how to behave after last night. What if Koz didn’t want it anymore?

\- Good day to you, too, - Koz smiled and gently closed the door behind him, carefully placing the bags on the floor. A quick look around, and Jack was swept up in Koz’s arms, being lifted off the ground and held in the air. Jack wasn’t ready, so he jerked his legs and was immediately put back down.

\- I’m sorry, - he smiled shyly. – It’s just that I’m too heavy.

\- You’re not, - Koz objected. – But if you prefer… - he leaned down and kissed Jack, just a small peck on the lips before straightening up. – Sera! Darling, can you help me with the bags?

\- Magic word? – came a voice from the kitchen.

\- You can have a chocolate afterwards, - Koz sighed, and Sera immediately rushed into the hallway, picking up both bags and sprinting back into the kitchen. He smiled and placed an arm around Jack’s shoulders, running a hand through his hair. – It’s getting whiter by the day.

\- And your skin goes gray, - Jack smirked and traced a finger across Koz’s face. – Look, it’s almost completely gray now. So I’m not the only one.

\- That reminds me, - Koz became serious. – We need to take another look at that book. What do you say about now?

\- Uh, sorry, but I actually have to get home, - Jack mumbled. – I called Mom, and she said I had to be there in, - he checked the time. – Twenty minutes. I’m sorry.

\- It’s fine, - Koz said, and his face softened. – But we need to do this as soon as possible. We could do it this way: I try that method you suggested and take a look at that chapter. If I find something relevant, I write it down, and tomorrow we can both read it at school.

\- But we don’t have time, - Jack protested.

\- You have Psychology first tomorrow, and after you I have a spare lesson. I can get you out of whatever you have next, and we will have more than enough time.

\- Really? That’s a great idea! – Jack beamed. – I’m in. So, until tomorrow, then?

\- Until tomorrow, Jack.

**

The first thing Jack noticed when he came to school was the emptiness of the hallways. It seemed that everyone had dropped dead in one night. He looked around the half-empty classroom in confusion. Koz wasn’t here yet, but it was still ten minutes before class. Jack sat down next to Jamie and poked him in the ribs.

\- Hey Jamie. Where is everybody?

\- I have no idea, - he shrugged. – Sophie hasn’t been feeling well today so I allowed her to stay in. – Sophie was Jamie’s sister, four years younger than him, she was a freshman right now. – I’ve asked Aster, he always knows everything. He said that half the school isn’t here, all having the same symptoms. Looks a lot like the Plague in the Middle Ages.

\- Really? – Jack’s eyebrows lifted. He hadn’t been expecting this at all, Pippa was feeling fine, Sera looked pretty well too last time he saw her. – When do you think that happened?

\- No idea, really. I suspect they’ve gotten sick at the same time, well, approximately. Given the adaptation period… - Jamie bit his lip. – I’d say Saturday night or so. Jack…

\- Yes?

\- Please don’t say I’m insane after I tell you something. Okay?

\- Okay, I promise. Who am I to talk? – Jack smiled nervously. He had a feeling Jamie knew what was going on.

\- Jack, I think… It’s no regular thing, this illness. Trust me, I’ve seen Sophie, - Jamie’s voice lowered to a whisper. – It looks paranormal. It doesn’t affect her physically, at least on the outside. She looks just fine, she’s just… warmer to the touch, but her temperature is perfect, - Jamie paused. – It looks like it’s affecting her psychologically or something. She err… feels scared all the time. She’s constantly wary of her surroundings. She keeps saying about something in the shadows.

\- Does it look like a man? – It all started to seem logical, actually.

\- No, she says it’s more like… I don’t know how to put it, - Jamie confessed. – She drew this thing. I’d describe it as a black-colored ghost or something. It’s… relatively small, perhaps the size of a cat. She says they’re sort of dumb… They’re hissing something about their master returning, but they don’t make any moves to join him.

\- Master?!

\- That’s what Sophie said. I have no clue, I can’t see them.

\- Jamie… Shit, - Jack grabbed his head. Actually, he suspected something, he just wanted to make sure. – Did Sophie say what their master’s name is?

\- She did, I just can’t recall it… It was super weird, like… Pitch Black or something? And she also says they keep hissing the word “Fearlings”, but I have no clue what this means.

\- Fearlings? That… I think I know what that is, - Jack breathed out. – That… these things are _called_ Fearlings, they have to be. It all adds up.

\- To me nothing adds up, but if you say so… - Jamie looked away. – I just want Sophie to be fine again.

\- She will be fine, - Jack promised. – She’ll get better.

At that exact moment Koz walked in, and Jack smiled to greet him. Jamie was about to bombard him with questions when the bell rang, and they began their class, although there were only like ten people present.

**

The class ended, and Jack couldn’t be happier. He was all eager to find out what was written in that blasted book, and he enjoyed the fact he got to skip English legally.

\- James, will you please stay behind for a second? I need you to do something for me.

\- Yes, Sir, - Jamie said shakily, and Jack just laughed, approaching Koz with him.

\- James, could you tell your teacher of whatever class you are heading to that Jack here, - he put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, and he flushed. – Is feeling unwell and has gone to the med room. I cannot tell you why he needs to be here, but you have to trust me that there is a good reason behind it. Can you do that?

\- Ye-yes, Sir, - Jamie mumbled. – Okay. Goodbye, then?

\- Goodbye, - Koz smiled.

They waited for Jamie to disappear in the hallway, and then Koz locked the door. The moment he did Jack realized he wasn’t in the room with his teacher anymore, it was just Koz.

\- Hey, - Jack came up to him and threw his arms around Koz’s neck, mumbling into his shoulder. – You know about the sick kids?

\- I have heard, - Koz replied, stroking Jack’s back. – This is why I came so late. The principal stopped me in the hall and told me about parents calling in describing the same thing. I am afraid…

\- Yeah, I know, Jamie’s told me all about it, - Jack pulled back to meet Koz’s gaze. – His sister’s sick too. That makes me wonder what provoked that thing and why Pippa and Sera are okay.

\- I guess the answer lies in here, - Koz pulled away and extracted a folder with sheets that had been written on in Koz’s beautiful handwriting. – The heating up method Jamie had told you worked perfectly. I wrote down all the useful information from the book. Let’s sit down and read it. Perhaps, if we think together, we can understand what the book is trying to tell us.

They sat down at a desk, Koz pulling out the papers from the folder. Jack took the one that was marked ‘1’ and began reading aloud the text.

_“Element spirits are rare, rarer than all others, even Rugarus which are nearly extinct. They usually don’t appear out of the blue, normally a person becomes one after death caused either by nature or by another spirit. After that they are immortal, which, however, only means they cannot die their own deaths, but they can easily be killed if one knows how. After such a death, no one knows what exactly happens to them._

_“Element spirits don’t necessarily look like people, but they are somewhat similar to what they used to look like during their human life. However, they may turn into a completely different form or they may acquire some attributes corresponding to their powers, such as different skin or hair color, perhaps even grow wings or tails._

_“Almost every element spirit has some sort of magic conductor of their powers. If separated from the conductor, the spirit may lose their power or in some cases even die. The conductor is normally something from the spirit’s human life, something the spirit has emotional attachment to. The spirit may or may not use the conductor to guide the magic, its only purpose is to keep the magic stable. The spirit may not even realize they have one, until they lose it and it becomes obvious. If the spirit has been long separated from their conductor and the magic has already ceased to exist in them, they may reacquire it when reunited with their conductor.”_

\- Wow, - Jack said, putting the paper down. – You think it’s about us?

\- I am certain, - Koz replied. – But there is more. Here. – He handed Jack the second sheet, and Jack coughed a little before resuming reading.

_“Although the phenomenon is extremely rare, spirits are known to reincarnate after their deaths. It happens if they have unfinished business, or if their death caused confusion and alternate timelines. However, in either case, the reincarnation happens only after a long time has passed, often more than five centuries, and the spirit is reborn as a normal human, but they already have powers. They may or may not remember about their past lives, that depends entirely on where their conductor is. Here I would like to note that conductors cannot be destroyed completely by anyone except the spirit themselves, so the conductor may still exist while the newly reborn spirit does not know where it is or even what it is.”_

\- Koz, - Jack breathed. – Doesn’t that mean…

\- Yes, I believe we have been reborn, - Koz said, putting an arm around Jack. Jack was extremely thankful, because he was literally shaking.

\- But what kind of spirits were we in our past lives? Were we… connected somehow? – Jack questioned. He was really curious. Now he could understand most of it, but he still had no idea what was going on and what unfinished business he and Koz had.

\- I have found the answer to that too, it seems, - Koz smiled, reaching for the third paper. – These spirits lived a thousand years ago, and it looks like they have been killed for something. Look.

Jack accepted the new sheet and began reading the information. This wasn’t at all like the previous ones, it seemed more like a diary of one of the spirits.

_“Jack Frost, the being of snow and fun, the joy of the first snowfall and the one that bites your nose on Christmas – that’s what they call him. ‘Ha-ha, very funny. Well, that’s a teenager for you’, as he would say. He is a reckless being, likes causing trouble and controls ice and frost. The eternal teenager with messy white locks, blue eyes and bare feet, the one that can give you a heart attack with a sudden snowball in the face. He always carries that staff with him and might even poke you in the side with it. Oh, Jack. He is free, and he loves it and gets the best of it. He hates being controlled, and I think this is for the best.”_

The next paragraph was similar in the style to the first one, but it was like it’d been written by someone a lot younger, perhaps in their teens or early twenties.

_“Pitch Black? Well, not much to say about him. He’s a being of shadows and dark, you know? He’s in control of all the nightmares that you get, the mighty Boogeyman. He’s so easily noticed everywhere it’s unlikely you’ll ever miss him in his pitch-black robe (pun intended, hehe) and with his slicked back onyx hair. He’s that sarcastic person you never wanna meet, but once you do you can never stop talking to him. He’s sophisticated and handsome, really tall like a pine tree and likes it when you’re scared. But that’s okay, because even his stone heart is able to love.”_

\- Err, - that was all Jack managed to say. It was more than enough to understand who these two spirits were – their past selves. He really didn’t want to read on, but he needed to know how they died. Jack was ready to flip the page, but Koz stopped him.

\- Let me tell you, do you think I can’t see that you don’t want to read about them? – and then he summed up what could’ve been a long story. – As far as I understood, there was a group of other spirits that wanted Jack to join him, but he refused. They had been out of touch for a long time, and, from what I read, I will take a guess and say Jack was with Pitch, in one sense or another. Then there was some sort of disagreement between them and one of the group, a big one, I suppose, because that grew into a fight and, well… they were both violently murdered, although it says there that the spirit did not intend to do it, and then, as far as I understood, he took their conductors and hid them somewhere, but it doesn’t say what they were. But then it says that there was an alternate timeline, in which the powers from the conductors escaped and took over the world and plunged it into a mess of cold and dark, which, unfortunately, go well together. This timeline got all humans killed and most spirits either killed too or at least severely harmed. I guess that is the problem that we somehow need to fix.

\- But I don’t wanna fix anything! - Jack cried. – I’m nothing, really… I’m just Jack. What can I even do?

\- You are so much more than just Jack, believe me, - Koz smiled and hugged Jack tighter. – Plus, we will be doing this together, won’t we?

Jack said nothing, he just bit his lip to stop the tears. It was a huge mess that neither one of them started, not really, it was their past selves. Jack couldn’t even bring himself to think he used to be immortal and that, well, he still could be now. Then there was that thing with conductors he didn’t understand, and how were they even going to fix everything? He just didn’t want to. He wanted to finish school, get into university, graduate, get a job and live a normal life and not… this. Oh, and all that probably meant he’d be leaving everything and everyone behind, and that included his family. He’d never be able to see Pippa again…

\- Koz… - he sobbed. – I don’t wanna do it… I just wanna be normal… I’m not that Jack Frost, and you aren’t Pitch Black, you’re Koz, and I don’t wanna change that!

\- Shh, Jack, I’m right here, and I am not going to become an entirely different person just because some book said that. But people died, they are in trouble because of our mistake.

\- _Their_ mistake, - Jack corrected grimly.

\- You have to accept we once were them, and there can be no running from that. But you are right, we _are_ different, and that is the key. We can fix their mistake, and we should do it. But it of course doesn’t mean we should become them and live in their time. We just have to… go back and make things right, and then we can return.

\- You sure about this, Koz? – Jack looked at the man hopefully. He didn’t want Koz to go anywhere, didn’t want him replaced by… by some Pitch guy! And he didn’t want to change himself either. He was Jackson Overland, and he was in no way becoming whoever that Jack Frost was!

\- Yes. I promise I will not leave you and return you home safely whatever it takes.

\- Then okay, - Jack slumped against Koz. – What do we do?

\- Well, I suppose we start with the conductors. I suspect they are somewhere here, because we mostly feel those powers when we’re in school. I suggest we don’t make fools of ourselves and look during the day.

\- Then what do we do?

\- We come at night.

**

Kozmotis was no less worried than Jack was. He was worried Jackson Overland he came to know and fell in love with would become Jack Frost, someone unfamiliar, and that he himself would turn into a stranger named Pitch Black. Who knew what those conductors would do? But he suspected it would take more than taking an object to completely change their personalities.

They had arranged to meet at one am at the school doors, they just had to hope the guard would be asleep or patrolling some other part of the school. It was twelve thirty right now, and Kozmotis was already fully dressed, so he could afford five more minutes of worrying and thinking. What would they do once they got inside? They didn’t even know where to look! Kozmotis had only one hope – that Jack would have an idea of where such things could be. Kozmotis sighed, for the last time reminded himself Jack wasn’t going anywhere and got up. He checked on Seraphina who was sleeping in her room, quietly wished her goodnight once more and headed out of the house, stepping as lightly as he could.

He managed to get to the school at exactly one am, and Jack wasn’t there. Kozmotis stood in front of the door, waiting patiently. Perhaps Jack was late?

But Jack was never late.

Kozmotis suddenly heard something, and he whipped around to see a white head popping out of a bush.

\- Koz! – he heard a barely audible whisper. – Come here!

Kozmotis, obviously, rushed to the bush and was immediately pulled in.

\- The guard is coming! – Jack hissed. – What were you thinking, standing out in the open?

\- I didn’t know, - Kozmotis retorted. – How long have you been here?

\- Long enough to realize the guy’s walking around in circles. Look, here he comes, - Jack pointed to the small black figure in the distance.

\- Alright, I got it. Now tell me, do you have any idea where to look for our conductors?

\- Well, - Jack scratched his head. – I think I know. There’s a basement here where they keep all the old stuff. It must be there if they still haven’t gotten rid of it. As for how we’ll recognize them – you’re one with the book.

\- I think we will feel drawn to them, - Kozmotis stated. – Now, where’s that basement of yours?

**

They hadn’t gotten caught. They hadn’t even been noticed. They were standing in that basement safely, and no one could see them. Thankfully, Kozmotis hadn’t forgotten all his military training and he remembered how to pick locks. So, he’d picked the lock and now they were inside. Their magic was almost boiling, if you could even say that about Jack. All that was left was figure out what kind of object could be the conductor out of millions of things that were stacked here.

\- Jack, - Kozmotis placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. – You’re snowing.

\- Oh, - Jack lifted his head and realized it was actually cold and he was making it snow. – Sorry.

They decided to split, going through all the things and following the draw of their nature. Jack had immediately left for the brooms closet, but Kozmotis was especially drawn to the boxes on the table. He lifted the cover above them and took the first box. It read “Medals”.

Kozmotis picked up each and every one of those medals, but nothing seemed to be the thing he was looking for. The same went for all the other boxes. Kozmotis frowned: why would he be drawn here, if nothing worked for him? But then he noticed a small pocket lying there on the table and lifted it up, shaking it so that whatever was inside would fall out. A locket landed on Kozmotis’ hand and that was when he _knew_. He just knew he’d found the right thing.

Kozmotis felt curious, so he opened the locket and looked inside. There was a picture of Seraphina, his little Sera. She had the same long hair, but she was dressed in a weird way, Kozmotis guessed people would dress that way a thousand years ago. The locket read, “You are my Star, you’ll always be in my heart”. Did that mean Pitch Black had lost his daughter? She wasn’t probably even called Seraphina. But then he remembered Pitch Black wasn’t always Pitch Black, he’d been a human once. Perhaps it was some kind of gift? Was it the pre-Pitch’s daughter? Could it be that pre-Pitch’s name was Kozmotis Pitchiner as well? Kozmotis didn’t have much time to dwell on that because he heard a yelp and Jack showed up, holding something in his hand.

It looked like a shepherd’s crook, only it was as tall as Jack, possibly even taller. It looked light though, as the teenager carried it with little to no difficulty. He danced across the dusty room to Kozmotis and hung on his neck.

\- Koz, I found it, - he murmured, and Kozmotis was incredibly relieved when he realized it was still _his_ Jack talking. – That’s his-my staff, isn’t it?

\- Yes, I suppose so, - Kozmotis replied and nearly choked when Jack’s arms tightened.

\- You’re still Koz, - he whispered. – I can’t believe it, but I’m so freaking happy.

Jack pulled back a little, and Kozmotis took that as a good sign and leaned in to kiss the boy. Jack’s response was immediate, he wrapped his arms around Kozmotis’ neck and pressed into him. Kozmotis picked Jack up and pressed him into the closest wall, kissing him hard, and that, _that_ mattered much more than conductors and spirits with their complicated lives. They would deal with that later, right now Kozmotis wanted something real, something that wouldn’t slip away from his fingers.

The kiss seemed to last for hours when Jack finally pulled back for air. They were looking at each other, smiling stupidly.

\- What are we gonna do now? – Jack asked, looking at Kozmotis who only smiled in response.

\- We are going to learn to control our powers. I assume the changes will finish that night as we got hold of our conductors, so we will be in full control of the powers we possess. And then we will learn how to fix the mistake.

**

Training was harder than both of them actually expected. Kozmotis barely had time to relax, any excess time he had from training he spent with Seraphina. Jack had lots of homework to do to prepare for his exams which were only two weeks away. That meant fourteen more days to study and then one day to forget it all and fail, as Jack liked to say. Christmas was approaching faster than ever, because they’d both been busy since the middle of October when they’d begun magic training. Since practically the beginning of it, their appearance had finally settled in: now Jack had his hair all white, pale blue eyes and white skin; Kozmotis’ skin was gray instead, his hair got longer and slicked back, his fingers became longer, and his eyes were silver-gold, cat-like. That was more than wonderful, but they’d had to learn quickly how to hide everything they could not explain. Now Jack wore brown contacts and long sleeves to hide his unnaturally cold skin, and Kozmotis’ drawers in the bathroom were always full of concealer he applied on his face, neck and hands every morning. Seraphina, obviously, knew about it, but she was either completely uninterested or she just knew more than they thought she did.

Days passed, and Jack got used to spending more time at Kozmotis’ place. Kozmotis was never surprised now when Jack accompanied him home at least twice a week, or when he showed up at night on weekends. Who knew what Jack’s mother thought about all of that, surely Jack didn’t tell her what was really going on? She could think _anything_ , from simple dinners together to, well… other activities, which they had never tried. Not that Kozmotis didn’t want to… He just thought Jack was still too young, and he viewed it as taking advantage, and Jack, even if he did want it, never let it show, so they kind of just kissed and that was all. Moreover, Kozmotis wanted Jack’s first time with him to be special, something they were prepared for, he didn’t want it to happen out of the blue.

Kozmotis was finally free from all the work he’d been doing. The training was supposed to happen today in the late evening, because during the day Jack was busy. His exams. Kozmotis had wished him luck over the phone while Jack was going to school. Well, he’d actually just said one word about the exams, because Jack had been too worried, so he’d talked nonsense about Sera and Pippa, who had become best friends, about how much he believed in Jack. That was sort of their way to say _I love you_. The phrase was just too cliché, so they used the word believe instead, and that word mattered to Jack much, much more.

Jack was supposed to be finishing now, so Kozmotis decided to give him some sort of holiday feeling when he came here, so he had Seraphina help him decorate the house and then cooked some dinner. It was December 24th, Christmas Eve, and Jack was going to spend it studying, even if it was necessary to survive. They’d both gotten better at controlling their magic, especially Jack, because, once it had become cold and snowy, his magic had given in. Perhaps it was because snow was his element or something. The staff was also really helpful, and the locket too. Kozmotis never used it as Jack used his staff – directly – but they were still their conductors, so they kind of mattered.

Also, they couldn’t just ignore the fact that, well, the nature went kind of crazy. Temperatures dropped unnaturally low, it got pretty dark pretty quick, and he wasn’t even going to start about the winds. Oh, the winds. The weather was actually violent, and Kozmotis had a feeling he knew the cause of it.

The kids were also totally not getting better. Well, they did show the signs of healing, but there were still reported cases of children muttering something about Fearlings and their Master. Kozmotis had a pretty good guess who it was, exactly. But how was he going to deal with it?..

The doorbell rang. Kozmotis just opened the door when Jack jumped into his arms, squealing happily.

\- Koz! I did it! – he chirped. – I passed everything! It’s a wonder!

\- How do you know you did? – Kozmotis asked, amused.

\- I feel it, - Jack beamed at him.

\- Well, I told you I believed in you, - Kozmotis said, and then he was immediately attacked with more hugs and kisses. He just had to close the door.

\- Jack, - he said, pushing the teenager slightly away. – It’s winter, and I am cold. Would you be so kind as to close the door?

\- Oh, - Jack blushed, closing the door. – Sorry. I forget others can’t stand the cold like me sometimes. – He bit his lip, as if thinking about something, and then looked up with a gleam in his eyes. – And you forget I can’t see in the dark, so that’s one for me.

\- Sure, sure, - Kozmotis smiled, taking off Jack’s scarf. – Do you want to take off your contacts? I like you with blue eyes more.

\- Been dreaming about it all day, - Jack returned the smile, blinking rapidly. – They’re awful to wear for a long time. Sometimes it’s hard to focus. – He blinked once, twice, then reached in the eye and popped one out, then the other. – Ah, finally.

\- Daddy! Daddy, where… - Sera stopped in the doorway, mouth slightly open. – Jack! Jack, I missed you! – She slipped past Kozmotis in a second, flinging herself into Jack’s arms.

\- Sera, darling, please be careful. I’m not going to help you brush your lair later. Why don’t you cut it anyway?

\- I like it that way, Daddy, - Seraphina grinned, landing back on the floor from Jack’s arms. – It feels good. Oh, we should show Jack what you made for him! – she screamed and ran into the kitchen. Kozmotis rolled his eyes.

\- Oh, Sera… - he sighed. – That little bugger. – He suddenly noticed something was off and turned to Jack. He was standing very still.

\- You… you made something for me? – he asked incredulously.

\- Well, yes, why not, - Kozmotis shrugged. – You’re staying with me, after all, you need to have your Christmas too. We decorated the house and I made some food…

\- Re-really? – Jack’s eyes widened. – No one… no one did that for me before.

\- You never had guests over at Christmas?

\- No… no, never. We’re not the kind of people. There’s always just the three of us: me, Mom and Pippa. We never went to see another family or hosted one at ours. You know… well, there never was anyone to invite.

\- Don’t you want to see Jamie? I thought you were friends.

\- I… Koz, I never thought of that. Sure, I gave him a present, but that’s about it… That’s on tradition we don’t have.

\- Well, we do, and you are going to eat that dinner no matter what, - Kozmotis put an arm around Jack’s shoulders. – I have something for you, too, later, by the way.

\- A present? – Jack’s eyes lit up. – What is it?

\- You’ll see.

\- I… I have one for you too! – Jack slowly smiled again. – Wanna see?

\- After we eat. I suspect you are hungry.

**

The dinner was delicious, Kozmotis watched as Jack ate every last bit of the food he’d cooked for him. Sera laughed quietly at him because she ate much less and was full after ten minutes. Later she was sent to her room, as it was late, but she only agreed when Kozmotis told her Santa would come at night to give her a present.

\- Wait here, - Kozmotis ordered and went up the stairs to his room. There, he opened a drawer and reached inside, taking out a small locket. He opened it to check it was the right one. Inside, there was a picture of Jack on the right, and on the left there was an engraving that read, “I believe in you”. He’d ordered it weeks ago, and it only came yesterday. At least they’d finished it in time. It seemed fit for a present, counting his conductor which was the similar-designed locket with Seraphina’s picture, only it was golden, and Jack’s one was made of silver.

He walked back down, holding the locket behind his back, and saw Jack fidgeting with something. He came to sit by him on the floor and saw it was a scarf. It was blue-black, and it looked like it’d been made by hand.

\- Koz, I… this is for you, - Jack’s eyes were filled with hope. – I made it for you. To… keep you warm when I forget about my temperature.

Kozmotis smiled, accepting the gift and hugging Jack tightly.

\- Thank you, - he whispered, letting the teenager wrap it around his neck. – And I got you this. It’s not that big, but… - he held the locket in front of him on an open palm. Jack looked at it with wonder and took it in his cold fingers, opening it. When he looked inside, his eyes first went big, and then he became still again.

\- Oh god, Koz, this is… This is perfect. I don’t know what to say…

\- Then don’t say anything, - Kozmotis suggested, wrapping his arms around Jack and kissing him.

Hours later, five minutes before midnight, they sat there, in the living room, on the floor, cuddling. Jack had his head in Kozmotis’ lap, and they were talking about casual stuff. Of course, there’d been no training, but Kozmotis wasn’t against it. He was just happy to spend the holiday in Jack’s company, even if in he morning he had to go home. It was okay, as long as at midnight they were side by side. It was just too important.

Eleven fifty-seven.

Jack beamed, his fingers touching the silver locket on his neck.

Eleven fifty-eight.

Kozmotis licked his lips, taking Jack’s ice-cold hand in his.

Eleven fifty-nine.

Jack sat up in front of Kozmotis, eyes locking.

Midnight.

Their lips smashed together, arms twisting around each other, pulling away only to say the two words.

“Merry Christmas.”

They were about to kiss again when Jack suddenly pulled away, eyes widening in shock.

\- Koz… what the fuck?!

\- What? – Kozmotis was confused. Did he do something wrong?..

\- Koz… Koz turn around. Look.

Kozmotis promptly did and realized why Jack looked so scared. The thing was, he was sitting with his back to the staircase leading to the library, but Jack was facing it. What he saw struck him. There was unmistakable white light coming out of the library.

\- What the fuck? – he repeated Jack’s phrase, staring dumbly at the entrance. – Jack?

\- I have no idea what that is… - Jack looked scared, and Kozmotis felt it. Sure he did, the training wasn’t in vain.

\- Come on, we should go and see.

\- Are you sure, Koz? – Jack inched closer. – I have a bad feeling about this…

\- What if it is dangerous? What if Seraphina gets hurt? Remember, those kids took long to recover. – Kozmotis knew Jack knew what he was talking about. The sick children in school, including Jamie’s sister, only got better in weeks after the beginning of the sickness, and there were still aftershocks. – Jack. Jack, listen to me. – Kozmotis lifted Jack’s head by his chin. – I won’t let anything, _anything_ happen to you. But we have to go. I have a feeling it will have its effects on us, I am sure we need to go.

\- Alright, - Jack sighed. – Just for you. But I still stand by what I said. I have a bad feeling about this.

Still, they stood up, linked hands and started to the staircase. The lower they went, the more blinding the light became. Once they stepped in the library, it quickly ceased, leaving them with only a faint glow that was coming from the far right. Mythology section. The damned book.

Kozmotis hesitated before heading there, dragging Jack along. They stopped at the source of light, Kozmotis grabbing the all too familiar book wrapped in black leather. He opened it to see what was going on…

The blinding light enveloped them once more, however leaving them in blackness. They floated around somewhere, Kozmotis didn’t know what that was, and then everything happened too fast. Jack screamed, clung to him looking for support, the black around tightened around them, and then he lost consciousness. The last thing Kozmotis remembered was screaming Jack’s name…

**

Jack came around in some sort of cave. It seemed like he was alone. He knew it was around midnight, probably a little after even. He was laying on a large bed, something a king would have. He attempted to move his limbs, but he found he had no control over his own body. Jack had no doubt it was his; he saw white hair falling onto his eyes. Then the body moved, uncurled a little, and Jack found he was dressed in a weird way: a blue tunic, which he never owned, a pair of brown jeans cut unevenly at the mid-thighs, and no shoes. He didn’t feel cold, but that wasn’t surprising.

Suddenly he remembered the events that happened, and all the thoughts left him except one: Koz-Koz-Koz. He had to find Koz, wherever he was. Jack supposed he was in a similar situation. But what happened?..

Then he heard the rustling of shadows, and a tall man appeared in the room. Jack immediately realized it was Koz, only he was dressed in a floor-length gown (?!) and nothing else. Also, his eyes weren’t shining like they usually were, they looked… evil.

\- Koz! – Jack wanted to scream, get his attention, but no sound came out. He felt trapped in a body of someone else, even though it was definitely his own! There was his staff near the bedside!

\- Jack, - he heard Koz’s smooth voice, but there was an unfamiliar tone to it. – Hello.

\- Pitch, - he heard his own voice saying against his will. – You promised to be back midnight! – this Jack, whoever he was, was so different from himself. Such a hysterical and demanding teenager.

\- Well, the Nightmares wouldn’t wait, - he heard Koz… no, _Pitch_ , remark sarcastically. – But now, dear Jack, I’m all yours.

That wasn’t Koz. And he wasn’t Jackson Overland. But who were these people… or creatures, they looked just like them! And then it hit Jack. Pitch. Pitch. _Pitch_. That was Pitch Black in front of him, with Koz probably trapped inside.

And he was stuck in the body of Jack Frost.

**

Frost turned out to be a _very_ different person to Jack. He’d gotten used to calling his past self “Frost” to avoid the confusion, not that he could say anything. He was still helpless inside an unfamiliar person, left with only his thoughts and attitude towards what Frost said or did. It seemed Frost was completely unaware of Jack who was constantly trying to reach out and give Koz a sign that he was there. Koz was, apparently, either not there or as alone and trapped as Jack, because Pitch was also very confusing. It was like he was evil and careless, but next to Frost he morphed into someone more like Koz, though still very different. Jack couldn’t help but want to cry sometimes, but he couldn’t even do that. He was only able to feel wrecked, but no tears or sobs ever came.

It had been quite a long time since they’d traveled in time, and Jack was still trying to figure out how to reach out for the world. Frost seemed to never sleep, or maybe he slept only when Jack’s mind turned off, or perhaps it was Jack who depended on Frost’s sleeping cycle. Either way, he was never the only one awake in his new body. Which he didn’t like at all.

Frost looked just like him, but his body seemed so different. Over the time he’d been here, Jack had gotten used to always having his staff in his right hand, but it was still so tiresome. Frost could also fly, and he didn’t have that fear of heights that Jack turned out to have, and each time Frost wanted to take the Wind for a ride, Jack braced himself and tried not to puke. Not that he could.

Also, Frost was a teenager as well, and he had _hormones_. Goddamn hormones, which never seemed to turn up in Jack’s body. Now he knew what it felt like to _want_ someone, because each time Frost and Pitch were next to each other, they both felt a rush of something hot in them. Jack wanted to brush it off at first as a side effect of sharing a body, but then he realized he wasn’t feeling that thing for Pitch. Pitch was a stranger. He felt it for Koz, who was buried deep inside Pitch. No matter how hard he tried, Jack just couldn’t shake the thoughts of what they could do from his head. It just stuck. It made Jack crazy with fear, but also some kind of curiosity and expectation.

In Pitch’s lair it was always dark, dark and kind of cold, but not the kind of cold Jack was used to, it was more of a dungeon cold, the one that gives you shivers but not the actual feeling of cold. Jack, who was used to seeing the sun come and go, couldn’t figure out the time, but judging by the number of times Frost fell asleep (presumably) it had been a week, perhaps a little less. Frost went out a couple of times, but it was always dark when he did, and he avoided big towns where he could be seen by “them”. Who were those “they”, Jack didn’t know. He first thought he could search through Frost’s mind, but it proved to be impossible. He had no access to any memories, the only thing he saw was what Frost thought at the moment, but it was never important, just some cute thoughts about Pitch or the Wind.

But then came a night when Jack actually accomplished something.

He was used to insomnia. He often had that problem when he was a kid, and it still popped up sometimes, more often that not when he was hypersensitive or busy worrying or thinking about something. So, when Jack found himself still awake after a certain amount of time, it was no surprise to him. But this time, something was different. Maybe it was the way it was very quiet in Frost’s head, when it usually buzzed with useless stuff, or maybe that he could actually _move_. It wasn’t much, and he wasn’t in full control, but it was the first time he did more than think.

Jack attempted to reach out, but all he got was a small movement of the fingers, but that was still freaking _progress_. Later, Jack found himself taking control over some functions of Frost’s body. He was alone in the room, because earlier Pitch had left to “do his job”. So maybe he could try something else – get into Frost’s memories.

He knew he couldn’t get access to everything, but one step at a time, maybe he could find something useful. Jack slowly inhaled, then pushed on Frost’s mind. It didn’t work, but this time Jack felt something, like a barrier that held him back, when earlier it just felt empty. He could deal with a barrier. At least the barrier was breakable.

So Jack attempted to break it down. It was kind of like destroying a wall, taking out brick after brick. It was slow, but after some time Jack got a hold of a small part of Frost’s mind. He decided not to risk going further, because then Frost could wake up and who knew what happened next?.. So Jack took what he could get, figuratively closed his eyes and jumped into the memories.

It was weird, seeing all this. It was Frost, next to Pitch, in the lair. They were hugging each other, kissing and smiling. It was a happy memory, Jack realized, as it was all cute and sarcastic and cuddly. So he left it aside and went on. He needed more.

This time it was Frost in a very foul mood. He’d broken down the bed and was sitting on top of the ruins, still punching the poor thing and… was that tears? Frost was crying.

\- Jack, wha… - it was Pitch. His usual smirk faltered when he saw the picture. – Jack? Jack, what’s wrong?

\- They… they cornered me… - Frost spoke, and his voice was angry and broken. – They went after me! I told them not to, but they still did! What happened to them?! It seems they don’t even care that I’m their friend anymore, they just do what… what is right, - Frost spat. Oh, there it is, Jack thought, the nature of the stubborn boy. – What’s happening?! Please, please tell me you know what’s happening! – he pleaded.

\- What did they say to you? – Pitch asked, his face cross.

\- Well, they said I… I betrayed the _greater good_ , - Frost’s face contorted.

\- I thought you had made it clear you were a neutral party?

\- Yes, I have, and they haven’t touched me and my personal life… until now. I don’t know what’s gotten into them! I _am_ a neutral party, and I don’t care about anything that happened in the past, I didn’t even exist back then when it all happened! Why are they doing this? – Frost whispered brokenly.

After that, the memory stopped, and Jack frowned. That was curious. Didn’t that mean that Frost had technically joined the bad guy? But it didn’t make any sense. In the book, it said nice and clear that both spirits were living neutrally and didn’t touch anyone. Also, Koz had said they were out of touch with “them”, but from what Frost had said, they were kind of friends before… something. As far as Jack could figure, they’d pried into his life and that’d upset Frost. That made Jack wonder what had really happened, and why exactly Frost and Pitch had been murdered. He was beginning to doubt it was an accident.

Jack never had time to think it over before another memory came forward, and this time it was something nicer: Frost was flying over the buildings high up in the clouds. At first it seemed meaningless, but then Jack noticed that Frost was flying in a peculiar pattern, as if avoiding something. Jack couldn’t realize what it was until he actually _saw_ it.

He couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but it seemed familiar somehow. It reminded him of a particular Koz’s power, which was create figures out of black, well… sand. This was kind of like it, but it was yellow, more like normal sand, and sure as hell Frost didn’t like it. Was it harmful? Jack doubted it. Maybe it was somehow connected to “them”?

Just as Jack had gotten used to the sight and almost figured out where the golden sand came from, the memory shattered, and Jack was about to cry out when he realized he couldn’t make any sounds _again_ , which meant only one thing – Frost had woken up.

Jack looked around the all too familiar cave again and saw Pitch – with a smirk on his face.

\- Hello, Jack, - he said. – Missed me?

And that was when Frost thought of something unintelligible, and Pitch became worried.

\- Jack?

\- Pitch, what the fuck? – Frost asked. – I thought you were supposed to stop prying into my mind and giving me nightmares when you promised you wouldn’t?

\- I promised, and I didn’t, - Pitch seemed surprised, but his voice was still firm. – Why do you think I did?

\- I saw a couple nightmares that night, and they felt weird, like I was watching myself from someone else’s point of view. Are you saying it’s not your job?

\- That is not what I would do, Jack, and you know it. Why don’t you tell me about it?

\- Well… - Frost paused. – Now that I think of it I can see that you wouldn’t do this. It felt different from my usual dreams, it felt as if… as if someone was deliberately searching through my mind for something. I can’t tell if he found it or not, but it’s obvious he isn’t an outsider.

\- What, are you saying someone’s inside you? – Pitch smirked suggestively. Oh, how Jack hated that smirk.

\- Yes! – Frost cried, and Jack felt a rush of fear, no, _panic_. – There is someone inside me, I just know there is! I don’t know who he is or where he came from, but he… he’s there. I don’t know how long he’s been there, but that night he’d made himself obvious. He waited until I was asleep and started searching for something in there, I don’t know how he did it, but he did!

\- Do you think it’s them who is responsible?

\- Perhaps… - Frost bit his lip, an action Jack was used to. – Actually… no. I don’t think it was them. He… he looked for things they never would, it’s like he wants to know who I am, what I am and how I behave. He… he also seemed very curious about them. He’s been watching one of the only close memories I have of them for quite a long time. Pitch… what do you think? – Frost looked at him.

\- I don’t know, - he answered. – But now that you’ve mentioned it… I feel like I’ve been invaded too, by someone very much like me. He… he attempted to read my fears for information from inside.

\- I thought you were the only Boogeyman? – Frost asked, as Jack felt huge relief flooding over him. Koz was in there! He’d been trying to get out all along! Jack wasn’t alone in here…

\- I am. There is no one that can read fears that I know of, - Pitch said thoughtfully. – Jack.

\- Yes?

\- Promise me you will tell me immediately if you feel danger from this invader? We need to get them out together, because they are extremely good at hiding their presence.

\- What if they aren’t though? – Frost suddenly asked. – I just thought… They’re trying to get information, right? So what if they ended up here by accident, lost all control over their bodies being left in us unable to communicate, and now they’re finding a way to escape the only way they know how – by searching through our heads?

\- That… That is actually a very good guess, - Pitch said. – But you still need to be careful. Who knows what their intentions might be.

\- Of course I will. Now, have you had a good night out? – Frost smirked, and Jack just _knew_ he wasn’t going to let that go. Maybe now that Frost was aware of him he could get him to allow him out just for a minute. Maybe they could communicate somehow.

**

Jack had already lost hope of trying to get through to Frost.

It seemed nigh-on impossible. He couldn’t even talk! How the hell could he communicate with Frost? There was no way it could happen…

Until it did.

Jack was relaxing. No, _Frost_ was relaxing, and Jack was just sitting there deep in his mind. He thought he wouldn’t try it this time, it was useless anyway. But…

\- Ahem, - Frost began. – I know you are inside me, there’s no use to hide it. I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to talk. Now, come out!

Jack thought hard. He didn’t react, so Frost repeated, “Come out!” And Jack complied. He pushed forward on Frost’s mind that was closed up now, completely, and he couldn’t see the insides anymore. But this time it opened up, and Jack was flooded by Frost’s thoughts.

\- There you are, - Frost smirked. – Chose to show yourself then. Well, I have questions. Who are you and how did you end up here?

\- I, uh, - Jack began to think, unsure if Frost could hear him. – Can you hear me?

\- Very clearly, - came the response, and it urged Jack to continue.

\- I’m… no one, really. My name is Jackson, - he paused. – Uh, my friend and I sort of ended up here after a terrible accident on Christmas. We err… we are from the 21st century, it’s far in the future, and we accidentally wound up in your bodies. We’re not sure how it happened. I…

\- Jackson? – Frost seemed surprised. – Well, that’s interesting. Care to tell me your friend’s name?

\- It’s Kozmotis. I… - Jack was interrupted by a shocked gasp.

\- Kozmotis? As in Kozmotis _Pitchiner_?

\- Well, yes, what…

\- What’s your last name? – Frost demanded.

\- I really don’t think…

\- What’s your last name?

\- Overland. My name is Jackson Overland. – Jack was about to give up when he felt Frost’s heart clench.

\- Do you have any idea who you are? – he asked, voice small.

\- Yeah, well, I’m Jackson Overland from the 21st century, I…

\- Shit… - Frost whispered. – I’m a spirit now, a winter spirit, but before that, three hundred years ago, I was human. And my name back then… It was Jackson Overland.

\- I… I didn’t know… - Jack whispered back. – Was Pitch human too before?

\- Yeah, he was… a General during the Golden Age, he was then… possessed by Fearlings and became the Nightmare King… And his name was… well, I assume you can guess.

\- Kozmotis Pitchiner… By any chance, when you were human… Did you have a sister named Pippa?

That earned him another shocked gasp.

\- Yes, I… I did… Loved her more than anything. And Pitch… I mean Kozmotis, your Kozmotis, does he have a daughter named Seraphina?

\- Yeah… An eight-year-old. Doesn’t want to hear anything about scissors and wears floor-length hair. – It was indeed weird to have a conversation with your past self, but it was getting him somewhere. Maybe Frost could trust him with his body. – Um… Frost?

\- Jack.

\- Right, Jack… I wanted to ask for a favor. Could you… uh, this is a lot to ask…

\- Spill it, dude, haven’t got all day. Pitch’ll be back soon.

\- I wanted to know if you could give me a chance to talk to Koz, - Jack blurted out. – I mean… let me take control. I won’t be long, I promise, I just need to make sure he’s alright.

\- What?! – Frost seemed enraged, but then he slowly relaxed. – I can’t do that, you know. Pitch will never let Kozmotis take over him, not under any circumstances.

\- But will you try to convince him? I need that, - Jack pleaded.

\- Give me a good reason why, and I might think it over, - Frost deadpanned.

Jack thought. Then he remembered something.

\- I love him, - he said quietly. – Please, F… Jack. You should understand.

Frost went quiet.

\- That was… unexpected, - he admitted after a long pause. – But I suppose… that’s reason enough. I promise I’ll try to get Pitch to agree to that, but I can’t tell you he’ll agree. If he does, will you know?

\- Yes.

\- Well then, he’s about to be back, - Frost said. – I’ll try.

Jack retreated from Frost’s mind, happy. Maybe he’d get to talk to Koz today.

**

\- Pitch! – Frost called. – I need to talk to you about something!

Pitch had just returned from wherever he’d gone off to, and now he was looking at Frost curiously.

\- Yes, Jack? What is it?

\- Um, Pitch, I… - Frost trailed off, and Jack felt how he was embarrassed of what he was about to ask. – Can I ask you a favor? But it’s not for me, it’s… for someone else.

\- Of course you can, - Pitch cautiously replied.

\- I… Remember we talked about those… creatures possessing us? So, today I… learned something curious about mine. I demanded he come out and talk to me. He did. And he said… he needs to talk to the guy who’s in you. Desperately.

\- What… Jack! I thought I told you to be careful with these things! He could harm you!

\- Pitch! He won’t! He’s… - Frost stumbled. – I mean… he’s my…

\- Well? – Pitch prompted.

\- The guy’s name is Jackson Overland, and he’s from the far future, - Frost blurted out. – And the one who’s possessing you… He’s also from the future, and his name is Kozmotis. Pitchiner.

\- Are you sure, Jack? He may have lied, - Pitch warned, but it looked like he was already half convinced. Jack metaphorically crossed his fingers.

\- I could get him to talk to you? – Frost suggested.

\- No, thank you. I’d rather not… interact with him. Are you sure he is who he says he is?

\- Yes, he… told me about Pippa. And Seraphina. There’s too many signs for it to be lies. He couldn’t have known unless it was true.

\- Well, let us say I am convinced. So do I let the… I mean, Kozmotis out now? I am still not sure…

\- Pitch, I swear to you, _this is safe_ , otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested it. Please. Jack over there, - Frost pointed to his head. – Desperately needs to make sure Kozmotis is alright. He sounded so lost… - Jack tensed up as well as he could. Did he really sound that desperate?

\- Fine, - Pitch said, and then closed his eyes.

\- Okay, Jack, - Frost turned to speak to Jack. – I’ll let you out, but when I let you know, you retreat. Got it? You’ll have some control over your body, but I can’t promise it’s gonna be complete. You might have some problems with it… - he trailed off. – But anyway. You go when I tell you. Okay?

\- Yeah, fine, - Jack nudged Frost’s mind and felt being let inside. He spread over Frost’s thoughts until he covered everything up to the last cortex. He could finally feel his body, he could make it move. The thought that Frost was him didn’t seem as alien right now as before.

Pitch’s eyes were still closed. But soon enough, he opened them, and they were different. They weren’t as golden as before, and they didn’t have that evil spark in them. Koz.

\- Koz? – Jack asked quietly, hoping he could be heard.

\- Jack? – Pitch… no, _Koz_ , murmured, as if he couldn’t believe it.

\- That’s me. Koz, how are you? Is everything okay?

Jack didn’t get an answer. What he got instead was a pair of arms wrapped around him tightly and a shaky breath in his hair.

\- I missed you, - Koz said, hugging Jack close to him. Jack almost couldn’t believe that he was at least _feeling_ whatever came in contact with his body like before.

\- I missed you too, - Jack grinned. – So, - he said, pulling only slightly away. – How’s life inside of Pitch?

\- Not at all good, - Koz sighed, stroking Jack’s white locks. – He’s the Nightmare King, but I assume you knew that. He.. he has the same power as me, feeding on fears, but I have never really acted on it, and he does it every night. He scares people and consumes their fear like a dementor, and I get to see it, see that he loves it. I do not like Pitch at all. Although I can tolerate this because he technically does it for the greater good. I sometimes feel like I’m just like him in some ways, and sometimes we’re completely different. I still cannot really wrap my mind around the fact that he is my past self.

\- Yeah, well, - Jack smiled tiredly. – At first I hated Frost. My first impression of him was that he was a hysterical rebellious teenager with only fun on his mind. But now I kinda see I was wrong. He’s got a lot more to him than just that. Koz, - he suddenly recalled a particular phrase of Pitch and started giggling. – God, Koz, did you actually try to read Pitch’s _fears_ for _information_? Christ, that’s awesome! – Jack almost burst into laughter.

\- Well, I did what I could think of at the moment. Jack, he may be the Nightmare King, but he has much more fears than you realize. For example, one of them is losing Jack, not you, but the other Jack.

\- Really? – Jack sobered. – Well, Frost kinda implied he wasn’t easy to read…

Koz looked even more shocked than Frost had probably felt.

\- You talked to him? – he asked incredulously. – Pitch won’t even let me in the darkest corner of his mind… How did you convince him?

\- I didn’t, - Jack smiled, hugging Koz once more. He just couldn’t get enough after so many days of solitary existence. – He, well… he made me talk to him. Forced me to admit who I was and stuff… And when I had the chance, I asked him if he could get Pitch to let us talk. I mean…

\- Jack, oh Jack… - Koz whispered. – I wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t here… I’m so glad I have you.

\- Yeah… - Jack said absentmindedly. – Yeah, me too.

They just held each other the rest of the time Frost granted them. But soon, too soon, Frost knocked on his mind, reminding that their time was over. Jack sighed and looked up.

\- Koz, it’s time. – He bit his lip.

\- Just a second, - Koz said and kissed him, very briefly. Then he smiled and took a step back, closing his eyes. Jack did it too, letting Frost back into his body. Wen Frost opened his eyes, Jack found himself trapped again. And in front of him stood Pitch with the usual gleam in his eye.

**

It was hard, being inside of Pitch Black. Kozmotis cursed himself more often than he thought possible for going into that library with Jack, because he was responsible for all… this. He knew it troubled not only Jack and himself, but also the other Jack, who his Jack had called “Frost”, maybe to avoid the confusion, and Pitch. Kozmotis understood perfectly well that they didn’t like having someone inside them, but he also understood they needed to work all together to find a way out, or, at least, to prevent the inevitable. He wanted to warn Pitch, have him warn Jack, and everyone would be happy then. He’d thought he had time until the fateful day. It turned out, not exactly.

\- Jack? – he found Pitch hovering over a crouched Jack, who was crying, or maybe having a fit. – Jack? Jack! Jackson Frost, talk to me!

\- Pitch, - Jack said brokenly, clinging to him. He was right; Jack was indeed crying.

\- What happened? – Pitch demanded. – Jack, tell me. Was it them again?

\- Not them, just… just Aster. He came to me while I was out and checking the towns… I don’t even know how he found me. It’s only January, you know… We had an argument. I tried to be patient, but hearing him say everything, even calmly… it made me lose temper. I screamed at him… He told me he’d… he’d tell the others and they’d come to deal with you and “save” me, - Jack was shaking, but Kozmotis wasn’t really paying attention to Jack. His higher priority was what he was _saying_. For whatever’s sake, he didn’t understand anything. Aster? Isn’t that the trouble boy from the school Jack goes to? Who were those “they” Jack and Pitch so often mentioned but never said their names? So Aster was one of “them”? Didn’t that mean that the rest of the band from the school, maybe besides Jamie, made “them” up? Kozmotis understood nothing at that point.

\- Jack, will you grant me the permission to kill them once we see each other? – Pitch said darkly.

\- Do whatever you want, but please let me stay out of this, - Jack mumbled. – I don’t wanna deal with them anymore…

\- Of course. But stay close, I don’t want them to hurt you.

They stayed silent after that for a while, until Jack spoke again.

\- Pitch… Do you think we can try getting Jack and Kozmotis involved? They’re from the future, maybe they know something we don’t?

\- No, Jack. This is not because I don’t trust them; this is because it’s our business, and only ours. They may not even exist in their time anymore, who knows?

\- Okay then, - Jack looked down. He was still shaken, probably from the unsettling experience. Kozmotis wondered how it had affected his Jack, was he frightened too? He couldn’t even do anything to ask if he was okay or calm him down…

\- Jack, - Pitch said, almost lovingly. – You are too focused on something you do not need to think about. I think I know a way to get you distracted…

Jack lifted his gaze, eyes brightening, his tongue darting out.

No.

No, no, _no_.

**

Kozmotis knew it would come to this. How could it not? Jack and Pitch were together after all, and he was actually quite surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. They had obviously had sex before, why stop? They, as he saw it, well, at least Pitch, didn’t care much about him and his Jack. Well, Kozmotis was no virgin, of course; he had a daughter. But his Jack on the other hand… They had never had this conversation, but he was sure it was all new to him. His Jack could freak out; he could have another panic attack. He assumed Jack would at least try to tune his possessor off, but who knew? Maybe he’d get so distracted he’d forget, or accidentally let his Jack back inside. Kozmotis was scared, actually scared, but he knew full well that no one would ask him. He needed to get his shit together and maybe turn his mind off of it or distract himself with something else. He couldn’t feel aroused anyway. But the mere thought of it, the sight of Jack, not his Jack, but anyway, had him shocked out of his thoughts. Jack was licking his lips and making it harder for everyone. He knew Pitch wouldn’t take it slow, because why would he? Whereas Kozmotis wanted his first time with his Jack to be slow and careful so that he could show his love and gentleness.

Well…

Fate was never kind to Kozmotis.

Pitch grabbed Jack by the arm and pulled him closer, kissing him hard. Not that Kozmotis could feel the kiss properly; he _could_ , but it didn’t feel like it was him, not exactly. More like he was watching a 3D movie. But he saw Jack closing his eyes and melting into the embrace, saw him almost submitting, but still keeping some control to himself. And that alone made Kozmotis feel weird, like he was mentally aroused. There was no physical feeling of it, but oh crap… Jack looked so sexy. He almost forgot it was Jack _Frost_ , not Overland, but he had a feeling that would soon change.

While Kozmotis was trying to figure his feelings out, Pitch had already taken Jack’s shirt off and was now in the process of untying his pants. Pitch himself was dressed in shadows, so it had to be no trouble for him to undress at all. Right now he was covering Jack’s chest with angry red marks and immediately running his tongue over them afterwards. Kozmotis was fascinated, not so much by Pitch’s actions, but by Jack’s reaction to them. He moaned, squirmed and panted, all those delicious sounds that e made were in his Jack’s voice too. It looked like they were more similar to each other after all.

But right now Kozmotis didn’t care. He watched as Pitch undid the knot on Jack’s pants and yanked them down, revealing an already hardened cock. Kozmotis felt Jack’s hands wrapping around Pitch’s body, and he could almost pretend it was _his_ Jack holding _him_. Pitch took the organ in his hand and began sliding it up and down, tearing strangled moans from Jack, and _oh_ how much it was like _his_ Jack. He ran his thumb over the head hard, squeezed his palm until Jack was probably in pain, but he had to love it, otherwise he wouldn’t be making those noises. And then Pitch sent his cloak away into the shadows, and Kozmotis could now see as well as feel how hard Pitch was. He knew what was coming, of course; he just didn’t want to admit it yet.

But he had to, when Pitch thrust one finger into Jack.

**

Jack gasped, of curse figuratively, when he felt Pitch slide a finger into him. He couldn’t really make any noise right now or feel hard. He was, in fact, a virgin; he never even bothered to jerk off, not really. And he was scared to death that his first time wouldn’t even be in his own body. Jack, however, despite being pure, wasn’t as naïve as other probably thought he was; he knew all about sex and maybe even more. What terrified him, though, was that he was essentially going to be fucked by a stranger, let alone in someone else’s body. He couldn’t feel it as he would it if was all his own; but he could see it all, and he knew Frost was loving it, and wanted more. He was making impatient noises, and then Pitch decided to add another finger, and Jack looked in his eyes.

It couldn’t be.

Yes, it was still Pitch’s hungry gaze with all his emotions. But right there, in the back, Jack thought he could see Koz staring at him. If he was right, then Koz’s eyes were terrified, but the fear was mixed with lust and desire. But that was practically impossible. Crap, Koz had a _daughter_. He just couldn’t be a virgin! But somehow he was scared. Of what? Having sex inside of Pitch? Having Jack as his partner, even if it was only in their minds? Their first time together? Jack didn’t know.

But what he did know was a sudden loud scream from Frost and a weird sensation in his to-be-guts. Jack looked down as much as he could, because Frost threw his head back, and he saw something completely different from fingers inside well… technically him. _Jack_ , he mentally scolded himself, _you knew it was coming_. It felt weird. It felt like being touched, but having nothing to feel it with, only the knowledge of being touched was there. Jack couldn’t exactly feel the throbbing dick inside of him, but he felt more lust than, actually, ever. He wanted to feel it inside of him, because he knew it wasn’t just Pitch who was fucking him, Koz was there too, and he couldn’t deny his attraction to Koz.

Pitch began moving, and Frost saw stars, whereas Jack just stared into those eyes, trying to find Koz in there. And he did, focusing on that one different gleam and never breaking the eye contact as Pitch moved with Frost. Jack couldn’t deny his desire to feel it anymore, he just felt this immense lust and love in him for Koz and kept looking at him as much as he could. When Frost couldn’t take it anymore and came together with Pitch, as far as he could tell, Jack did it in his own way, mentally, and judging by the look Pitch had in his eyes that belonged to Koz, Koz felt the same way. Well, Jack was at least glad that Koz wanted him. As Frost and Pitch collapsed together and fell into each other’s arms after the rough sex they had, Jack just felt happy and content, because why not? But he was also scared. What if Koz rejected him once they got out? What if he decided he didn’t want it? Jack had many questions, but he decided to leave them for later. Now was relax time.

**

A full day had passed since Jack had figuratively lost his cherry, and almost nothing happened since. Mostly Jack was left with his own thoughts or listening carefully to Frost and Pitch’s conversations, fishing for useful information. But they hadn’t exactly talked about anything important, so Jack felt relatively relaxed by the evening. Who knew it would change so fast?

It happened very quickly. Jack barely had time to realize what was going on. There was this sound beneath Frost’s feet, and then something weird happened. Someone jumped out of the hole that appeared in the ground, someone Jack had already seen. It was the rabbit that had cornered him the other day, Aster, was it? He vaguely reminded Jack of the Aster he went to school with, but it couldn’t possibly be the same one.

\- Well, hello, - Pitch declared, and Jack prepared himself.

\- Yeah, yeah, can we skip all that shit? – the rabbit rolled his eyes. – I just wanna get it over with, alright? – and then he extracted a very sharp object that looked like the boomerang Aster always carried with him. No, please, no!

\- Such a pleasure to have you in my home, - Pitch continued in that same tone. – You’re threatening me with weapons. Goodness gracious!

\- Just shut it, - Aster growled.

\- Look, - Frost said suddenly. – Why does all this, - he gestured around himself with his free hand. – Concern you so much? That’s none of your business, you know? We’re not in your way, we’re not in anyone’s way, so can you _please_ stop all this and just go? – he asked, but Jack had a feeling that wouldn’t work.

\- Mate, - Aster suddenly switched to a caring tone. – I don’t think you understand. We’re trying to protect you! Pitch here is playing with your mind…

\- Oh, really, - Frost drawled. – I thought we were friends, Aster, you know?

\- We are, - the rabbit said grimly.

\- So then why are you doing all this? A friend should want his friend to be happy, right? I thought I had made it clear I wouldn’t join you or Pitch in that fight. It’s yours alone, okay? Don’t drag me into this. I’m neutral, so I can do whatever I want okay?

\- Look, kid, - Aster groaned. – I understand you want no part of this thing. I’m not asking you to pick sides or whatever. You’re free to make your choices…

\- Then what the hell is your problem?! – Frost threw his arms up exasperatedly. – And by the way, why isn’t there anyone else with you? Looks like it’s only troubling you!

\- Christmas, mate. It’s Christmas. And Tooth and Sandy are too busy at night, as you know. Only you don’t have responsibilities. “Hard work and deadlines”, isn’t that what you called it? – Aster quoted, and that did sound like something Frost would say.

_Great_ , Jack thought. Of course it was Christmas! That must have been the time when they were murdered!

\- I highly appreciate this conversation, but we are busy. Would you mind leaving? – Pitch said calmly, but Jack saw through it all.

\- Um, no? Pitch, what the hell have you done to Jack?! – Aster demanded.

\- Me? I did nothing. It’s you who is following him, not me! – Pitch was getting pretty mad pretty quick.

\- Don’t just stand there and lie to my face! Tell me, what have you fucking done?! Jack ain’t supposed to be on your side!

\- Who said he is? You know, relationships base not only on the side you are on! As you said, this isn’t Jack’s fight, and he is free to have whatever relationship he likes with anyone he wants!

\- As if, - Aster growled, grabbing the boomerang tighter. – You would want to have any kind of relationship if it’s no use for ya!

\- Aster! – Frost screamed, horrified. – How dare you?! Don’t talk about things you don’t know about!

\- Back off, kid, - he warned. – Don’t wanna get hurt, do ya?

\- NO! – Frost shouted, and then he stood in front of Pitch, defending him. And then Jack heard Frost whisper to him frantically.

\- Jack! Jack, please. He’s going to murder Pitch! Please, help him! Do it for Kozmotis if not for anything else. For me. Jack. Jack. Jack! – and then he opened his mind so that Jack was allowed fully into his body once again and felt Frost tune out, letting him take full control but still watching.

\- Pitch! – Jack pleaded, not looking at Aster who was just standing there, shocked. – Pitch, this is Jackson Overland. Pitch, I… You need to trust me on this. I’m gonna try to save you. I think I know what to do… Please, trust me. Let Koz out. Let me talk to him. Please. I might know a way. Just…

\- Jackson? -  he heard Pitch gasp. – What the fuck?!

\- Pitch, I…

\- Kid! Duck! – they suddenly heard Aster shout. Then a lot of things happened at once.

Pitch retreated, letting Koz out.

Jack screamed.

Aster threw his boomerangs, one after the other.

The first one hit Pitch slash Koz.

The second one hit Jack.

Jack screamed in pain. He writhed with the blade directly above his heart. He looked at Koz with wide eyes, who was also in pain and scared. Scared for Jack. Aster was expressing concern, but no one particularly cared. Then Jack heard Frost whisper to him at the back of his mind.

\- My body is gonna die anyway, - he said. – It’s okay. Pitch will probably die too. Just… can you make sure you and Kozmotis will make it out alive? That’s all I ask. Get out alive. And tell Kozmotis I loved Pitch with all my heart. Okay? Promise me.

\- Okay, Jack, - Jack smiled. – I promise.

Jack felt Frost – no, _Jack_ Frost – sigh one last time and then disappear. The body slowly began to stop working. He had almost no time left. He needed to do something _now_ , or there’d still be that alternative timeline. The solution came almost instantly.

Jack screamed in rage and grabbed his staff with both hands, clasping it tight and inhaling deep. And then…

_Crack_.

He broke the staff.

Silence.

The last thing he knew before blacking out was glass shattering. Koz had broken his locket.

**

“As you know, strange things have been happening recently, and the sudden epidemic of an unknown sickness is one of them. Burgess State School has been reporting bizarre incidents all somehow revolving around the same people. But I am glad to inform you that everything has oddly – and finally – gone back to normal. It was fast – the last children immediately getting healthier, stopping mumbling something about Fearlings altogether. The school children have settled their worries, and everything should go back to ordinary quite soon. I would also love to thank…”

Jamie sighed happily and turned off the TV. They had had an unusually rough Christmas, with snow and everything. He and his friends had gathered at Aster’s place and stayed overnight, because it was downright impossible to exit the house by evening. Jamie just hoped it wasn’t anything to go by with the fact that Jack hadn’t shown up. But he was probably with Mr. Pitchiner anyway, so what was the point of inviting him?

He was happy everything had gone back to normal. Sophie had been slowly, very slowly getting better, but today she showed no signs of ever being sick. It was weird, but Jamie just had to accept it.

The cold weather had finally settled. The violent winds that had been terrorizing Burgess for a while had stopped. Jamie knew it had something to deal with the most horrifying incident of his life – Jack and Mr. Pitchiner’s fight, and then their changes. He couldn’t just ignore the fact that Jack had been half frozen the last time he’d seen the boy, with all the white hair and ice-cold skin… Jamie didn’t know what happened and why, but he just had to hope everything was okay.

**

\- Jack?

Jack squirmed uncomfortably. He so didn’t want to open his eyes.

\- Jack? – the same voice repeated, but Jack only slightly moved. – Jack! – the voice was really worried now. – Jackson Overland! Jack…

Jack felt scared, like, really scared. He could be wounded. He could actually be dead. Slowly opening his eyes, Jack recalled what had happened before he blacked out. He brought a hand to his eyes and noticed it was pale, but a more human, healthy color.

\- Wha… What? Where am I? Who is… - Jack focused on the person hovering above him and suddenly recognized him. – Oh shit! Koz! I uh… - he trailed off. He also saw that Koz’s skin was back to normal as well, and his eyes were their pale silver like before. – You look… human.

\- I have noticed, - Koz remarked darkly. – I also can’t read your fears. But we’ll worry about that later. Are you alright? – he brought a hand to touch Jack’s forehead, but Jack, feeling strength returning to him, just flung himself into Koz’s arms.

\- Oh Koz, - he mumbled. – I thought I’d lost you. I thought we were gonna die…

\- Apparently, only Jack Frost and Pitch Black died. But we, in turn…

\- Oh crap, - Jack muttered, threading his fingers through his hair. – We haven’t fixed anything! They still died, and the bloody rabbit…

\- Jack, - Koz hugged him tighter. – It doesn’t matter if they died or not. What does matter is that we destroyed the conductors. They don’t exist anymore, so there is no alternative timeline this time. Oh, and Jack, - Koz smiled in his hair. – All the supernatural stuff has stopped. The children are back to normal. The weather is fine again. And you are…

\- Human? – Jack guessed. – I thought we’d go back to human once they’d gotten killed, but that made zero sense as they died like a thousand years ago, and…

\- And we were there when they died, - Koz said soothingly. – So it all makes sense now. We have come back only a day later. I thought it would be longer.

\- Koz, I… - Jack suddenly recalled one particular thing. – Do you think… the rabbit was actually Aster?

\- Possibly, - Koz hummed. – But it doesn’t matter in the end. We fixed their mistake, so yeah… we are back safe and sound now.

\- Yeah… - Jack repeated, clinging closer to Koz. – Koz, by the way… Pitch essentially took my cherry, - it was about time they had this talk. – That’s kinda funny.

\- About that, - Koz seemed to tense. – I didn’t know when it was the right time to… well, you know, have sex with you, but now it sort of doesn’t matter, I think. I wanted your first time to be gentle, so I could show you how much I care for you and love you. But since you’ve seen it all… that’s kind of unnecessary.

\- It does matter, - Jack interrupted. – That time… technically it wasn’t even me. I’ve seen it, yes, but it wasn’t my body at all. I couldn’t even feel anything properly. But it was important in a way, because now I’m not scared as much. I… I want it, - Jack admitted. What would Koz say? Would he take Jack, or would he leave him, because Jack was too young?

\- Oh Jack, - Koz sighed. – I want it too. But…

\- No buts, - Jack rolled his eyes. – And don’t say I’m too young, please. I’m sure I’m the only virgin in my class. Half-virgin, to be more precise. Please, Koz, just… take it slow.

There was a gleam in Koz’s eyes, and Jack knew he’d won the argument.

**

Kozmotis met up with Jack on their way to school. Over the Christmas holidays, they had stayed together in Kozmotis’ house. Jack had phoned his mother and asked her permission, and she thankfully granted it. It was important for them. They wanted to be together, only the two of them, to grow used to what had happened in the past months. They talked a lot and discovered that they didn’t want to forget everything. Jack had grown closer to Seraphina who practically adored the teenager, so they were thinking of Jack moving in after he graduated. He was sure to take Pippa with him, of course, who was very close friends with Sera.

\- Hey Koz, - Jack stood on his tip-toes and kissed Kozmotis. – Excited about the first school day?

\- Very much, - he replied, taking Jack’s hand in his own. – What about you?

\- Oh, I’m pretty sure Jamie is going to bombard me with questions, - Jack laughed, rubbing his free hand against his now brown hair. – But I missed him. I wanna see him.

\- I can understand that, - Kozmotis hummed. – Let’s go.

At school no one really mentioned anything. That is, until Kozmotis had a lesson with Jack’s class.

\- Mr. Pitchiner! I’m so glad to see you are alright! – Jamie stormed in. – How’s Jack?

\- I can assure you Jack is perfectly fine, - Kozmotis smiled. – He just needed some rest after well… you know what. I am sure he has already told you.

\- Oh yeah, it was like, - Jamie bit his lip. – I’m sorry I’m talking to you that way, Sir.

\- There is no need for such formalities, - Kozmotis reassured him. – I have a question, by the way. About your friend Edgar Aster.

\- What about him?

\- Has he been feeling… not so fine on Christmas night?

\- Well, - Jamie ruffled his hair, a gesture he’d gotten from Jack. – He was, actually. But only for a brief moment. Like… like he remembered an awful thing. But it was only just a second. Does that count? And why are you asking? Is it important?

\- Hey Jamie, - Jack suddenly came up to them, out of breath. – Been checking my locker. Found a whole lot of nothing. Why are you terrorizing Koz?

\- It’s nothing, Jack. I promise, - Kozmotis smiled, but a feeling in his gut told him it wasn’t. Something was wrong.

\- Okay then, - Jack hugged him briefly. – Gotta revise all the Psychology stuff, because you’re gonna be mean and ask us questions.

\- Be ready, - Kozmotis warned and grinned. – Your answers better be Pitch perfect, or… - he growled menacingly and then burst into laughter. It seemed Jack got the joke, because he smiled as well. Everything was fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kozmotis held Jack’s hand as he walked him through the corridors and out of the school. It was the last day of classes before the Easter holidays. Easter was only in three days, and they were planning something big for Seraphina and Pippa. They were just discussing the details when…

\- Fuck, North, - it was Aster’s voice. – That Overland kid, along with Mr. Pitchiner, is driving me insane! It’s like I did something wrong towards them, but we don’t even know each other that well!

\- I suppose I believe you, - North said seriously. – I had a conversation with others recently, and all feel connected with them. Aster, it is like we knew them before. And with that book, - North trailed off.

\- You’re right, mate, - Aster _tsk_ ed. – Something’s wrong. Have you noticed the way the Jack kid had _suddenly_ gone back to normal? I think we gotta figure it out. We need to have a Guardian meetup today. Call Tooth and Sandy along. Don’t bring Jamie. We gotta know what’s going on.

\- What the fuck? – it was the only thing Jack managed to say.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a sequel. I don't know how soon, because I have exams coming and I gotta do a lot of work. But I'll write it and post here when I can.


End file.
